A barrage of three pointers from Mattoon ballooned a 16-point halftime lead to as much as 29 in the third quarter, spoiling the Trojans’ senior night with Charleston falling 66-32 to Mattoon Tuesday at Baker Gym. 

Four three-pointers went through the net for Mattoon in the third quarter, with senior guard Lincoln Hayes leading the way by hitting two of the four. 

In addition to the long-range shots, Mattoon (15-14, 5-4), came out of halftime in a full court press which forced Charleston (4-26, 0-9) into five turnovers in the third quarter alone, the same as their first half turnover total. 

“There’s no cooling the jets,” Mattoon head coach Jimmy McKee said. “We try to hit things as hard as possible and continue to bury, bury, bury.” 

The mistakes on offense bled over to defense for the Trojans, who committed five fouls in the third quarter as well. 

Mattoon came out with intensity to start the game by making its first three shots and taking an 11-0 lead on Charleston. That forced an early timeout from Charleston head coach Colin McInerny. 

Mattoon sophomore guard Max Wetzel led the way in the first eight minutes of action, as he hit two three-pointers to get Mattoon rolling early. 

Senior forward Tyler Oakley did the heavy lifting early in the game scoring the first eight points for the Trojans. 

Shooting woes plagued Charleston throughout the first half, as the Trojans shot 6-of-23 from the field in the opening half. 

Mattoon’s presence and length in the paint led to the Trojans relying heavily on their outside scoring with 15 three point attempts in the first half. 

The Trojans went into the halftime locker room facing a 16-point deficit, but McInerny remained optimistic to his players. 

“I wasn’t panicked,” McInerny said. “You can’t score 16 points in one shot; it’s going to be step-by-step getting back into it.” 

This is the second meeting of the season between Charleston and Mattoon with Charleston losing to Mattoon 92-50 on Jan. 9. 

This game was senior night for the Trojans, which seemed to only fuel the Mattoon players. 

“They come into any Charleston game with a basket of energy,” McKee said. “It’s a heated rivalry, so I don’t have to do a whole lot of motivating.” 

The game continued into the fourth quarter with the starters for Charleston sitting out much of it, where the Mattoon lead got to as much as 35 before a short push by Charleston ended the game. 

Lincoln Hayes finished as Mattoon’s leading scorer with 19 points, and sophomore guard Max Wetzel was second in scoring with 14. 

For the Trojans, Tyler Oakley led the way with 14 points, further extending his record. 

Mattoon still has two regular season games left before regionals begin next week. 

Charleston has one more game before the IHSA regionals. It’s an away game against Mahomet-Seymour on Friday.  

The Bulldogs have not lost an Apollo Conference game this season. 

“Friday is going to be tough,” McInerny said. “We’re going to go out and give them as much as we can. If we hit our shots we know we can compete with teams.” 

Friday’s tipoff is set for 7 p.m. 

Jacksen Adkins can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].