It has become very rare for the Teutopolis boys’ basketball to lose a Homecoming game.
History backs that up.
The Wooden Shoes were 7-2 in their last nine Homecoming games entering Tuesday night’s tilt against Paris, and Teutopolis didn’t stop that dominance.
The Wooden Shoes (5-1) controlled the game from start to finish, winning soundly over the Tigers, 73-39. It was the eighth Homecoming win in the last 10 games for Teutopolis and the fourth in a row.
The 34-point margin was also the most lopsided in the last 10 years.
Brendan Niebrugge opened the game with a 3-pointer.
Caleb Bloemer then answered a Paris 3-pointer with a layup to make it 5-3 before Caleb Siemer converted back-to-back layups, and Garrett Gaddis finished back-to-back layups himself to make it 13-3. Gaddis also added a three-point play after forcing a turnover that made it 15-3 before converting his free throw to make it 16-3.
Paris, though, ended the first quarter strong.
Jackson Rigdon and Drake Bartos hit back-to-back 3-pointers for the Tigers to equal the first-quarter tally of 16-9.
Momentum, however, never went too far from the Teutopolis bench.
The Wooden Shoes outscored Paris, 21-11, in the second quarter to take a 37-20 advantage into halftime.
Bloemer started the second quarter with a layup to make it 18-9.
Paris then responded with back-to-back layups to cut the Wooden Shoes’ lead to five, 18-13, before a corner 3-pointer from James Niebrugge stretched the lead out to eight, 21-13. Niebrugge also added a free throw to make it 22-13 before a Siemer layup made it 24-13.
Bartos then converted a short jumper to cut the lead to nine, 24-15, before Gaddis made a layup after causing a turnover that pushed the lead back to double-figures, 26-15.
Drew Rogers followed that with a 3-pointer that made it 26-18 before Siemer made a layup while drawing a foul for a three-point play opportunity. Siemer made his free throw, as well, to push the lead to 11, 29-18.
The same dominance continued once the second half started, too.
Brendan Niebrugge opened the second half with back-to-back 3-pointers to make it 35-18.
Siemer then converted a layup that pushed the lead to 19, 37-18.
Siemer finished with 15 points and seven rebounds.
Brendan Niebrugge had 16 points, hitting four 3-pointers. James Niebrugge added 13 points and five assists. Gaddis finished with nine points. Bloemer had six. Joey Niebrugge and Zac Niebrugge had five, and Mitch Koester and Austin Bloemer had two.
As for the Tigers, Bartos and Tre Lee led the way with nine points. Connor Rhoads had eight. Rigdon and Drew Rogers had five. Payton Lankster had two, and Ty King had one.