By: Joe Blystone
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
publisher@thevillagereporter.com
METAMORA (December 27, 2025) – For nearly 24 minutes, Evergreen shot a paltry 35%. For nearly 24 minutes, Evergreen allowed Tinora open looks to shoot 15-27.
And for nearly 24 minutes, Tinora dictated tempo, shortening the game as they took as much as a 13-point lead.
Then, as quick as a light bulb comes on, the Vikings changed all that, forcing nine fourth-quarter turnovers that keyed a 20-0 scoring salvo that brought Evergreen back for a 51-46 win before a large and loud crowd at Evergreen.
“This makes twice this week where we have not performed to our greatest capabilities until the fourth quarter,” Viking coach Kyle Bostater said, the first of those games a 63-61 loss at Springfield, where the Vikings fell short of coming back from another 13-point hole.
“The one positive we took out of this was that even though we get down, it doesn’t matter what team it is, or what kind of style of play it is, our guys have the ability to go on runs to get themselves back in a game.”
“They have shown over the course of the two years I’ve been here that time and time again, no deficit is too big.” The Vikings’ doldrums started early, going just 2-9 in the first quarter.
Meanwhile, Josh Lieb bagged a trio of shots from outside the arc and Grant Lymanstall hit one more as the Rams went out to a 16-7 lead. Lieb’s layup boosted the Rams up to double figures at 20-9.
Will Ruetz and Troy Manz each tripled to get Evergreen back within 22-16 with 4:33 left in the half, but the Vikings misfired on four straight attempts, and Lieb scored three more times inside as the Rams worked as much as 50 seconds off the clock to take a 31-18 lead into the locker room.
Chris Shrader’s three-point play with 4:46 left in the third sliced the Ram lead to single figures at 31-23. Lieb responded with another three-ball, but that would be the last shot the 6’2 junior would hit on the night.
Shrader’s triple was offset by two Dylan Schaufele hoops to bump the Rams back up more than 10, at 40-29 with 43 seconds left in the third.
Then, for nearly the next eight minutes, Evergreen held Tinora scoreless and trapping all over the floor, forcing the deliberate Rams into 10 turnovers.
The first led to a Quinn Eisel bucket at the end of the third that once again got the Vikings back to a less than 10 point deficit.
Then in the first 1:45 of the fourth, four straight turnovers led to back-to-back triples from Shrader and a swipe-and-score by George Allendorf, which got the Vikes within a point at 40-39.
“Chris is awesome,” Bostater exclaimed of his junior forward. “I would say all around that he is our most consistent player.
“Every single day, we know what we are getting out of him. He brings his lunch pail to practice and every single game, and he goes to work. We know exactly what we are getting from him. He can handle the ball, he can shoot it, he is probably our most consistent defender that is always in the right spot.”
“He clanked one off the side of the board, and we joked about it after the game, but Will Ruetz showed some senior leadership and picked him up when he was down, and immediately after that, he knocks down two huge three-pointers to bring us back.”
Manz canned 2-2 from the line with 4:38 to go, which gave Evergreen a 41-40 lead, then the senior point guard’s steal-and-score 10 seconds later made it a three-point lead.
Then Ruetz went to work, getting a fast break bucket from Allendorf, then a step through to the rim after a Ram miss, and a third bucket from Shrader after yet another Tinora miscue to vault the Vikings up 49-40 with just over a minute left.
“We told our guys we had to get out to a quick start against these guys, because if you let them play with the lead, they become very difficult,” Bostater explained.
“We obviously didn’t get that done, and they do a very good job getting reversals and back cuts and get some wide open threes or easy layups. They hit a lot of shots early. Lieb is a great player, but our guys were able to respond in the second half.”
While Tinora (4-5) committed nine fourth-quarter mistakes, Evergreen had nary a one, shooting 8-12 from the floor.
Because of all the steals, the Rams only got off seven shots in the fourth, hitting two in the last minute around Shrader’s last layup off an out-of-bounds play to make the final closer.
Lieb led all scorers with 22, but he was held scoreless for the last 12 minutes of the game. Schaufele and Lymanstall each had 10 for Tinora.
Shrader got 17 for Evergreen, while Ruetz had 14. Evergreen (5-2) forced 21 Ram turnovers while committing just six.
TINORA (46) – Ferrell 0; Schaufele 10; Neff 0; Hancock 4; Lieb 22; Horn 0; Lymanstall 10; Totals: 12-5-7 – 46
EVERGREEN (51) – Manz 8; Ruetz 14; Farley 0; Q. Eisel 8; Allendorf 4; Fisher 0; Rafferty 0; Shrader 17; Totals: 12-6-9 – 51
THS 16 15 9 6 – 46
EHS 7 11 13 20 – 51