Junior guard Tyler Oakley scored 26 points, senior guard Luke Bonnstetter scored 11, and the Charleston High School boys’ basketball team beat Effingham 49-36 Monday night at Baker Gym to advance in the Illinois High School Association Class 3A playoffs.

The Trojans (12-20, 3-7) went on a 15-2 run in the second half to beat the Flaming Hearts (7-25, 2-8) for a fourth time this season, and held Effingham to under 40 points for the 15th time this season.

“I think we won the game on the defensive end,” Trojan head coach Brian Deadmond said. “[That was] probably one of the best defensive games we’ve played all year.”

Effingham never led in the game but was able to tie the score twice. Trailing 24-19 at halftime, the Flaming Hearts went on a 7-2 run to begin the third quarter and made the score 26-26 thanks to a three-pointer by senior forward Ethan Jones with 2:36 remining in the quarter.

In the next Trojan possession, Bonnstetter drew a foul but was unable to make his two free throw shots. With the game still tied, Bonnstetter hit a three-pointer from the deep left wing in front of Charleston’s student section, which kicked off the 15-2 run.

By the time Effingham sophomore forward Jude Traub stopped the run with three minutes remaining in the game, the Flaming Hearts trailed by 10.

This was the fifth meeting between Charleston and Effingham this season, and ninth in the past two seasons. Charleston has won eight of those games.

“No game with Effingham is going to be pretty,” Deadmond said. “It’s always going to be a rough game. They play hard. They play with a lot of intensity, and they’re coached with a lot of intensity.”

Both teams were off to a slow start offensively, with Charleston leading 8-7 after the first quarter. Only 27 of the combined 85 points scored by both teams were scored in quarters one and three.

“It’s going to be hard to score at times,” Deadmond said. “You just got to fight through that adversity, and we really did that tonight.”

15 of Oakley’s 26 points came in the fourth quarter, with seven of those from the free throw line because of Effingham fouling to try and get back into the game. Oakley led the Trojans with eight points from the free throw line on nine attempts.

“I was just able to step up and hit them at the end of the game,” Oakley said. “[Overall], I just got open, and I was cutting, and my teammates were finding me and I just hit my shots.”

The win marks the first playoff victory in Deadmond’s career, and the second playoff victory for the program since 2018. The Trojans first playoff victory came last season, when they beat Effingham in the same round, the regional quarterfinal.

“It’s cool to get a postseason win,” Deadmond says. “It’s kind of where we’re going in our program. We want to be moving in that direction to where we’re playing meaningful basketball in the month of March ultimately.”

The Trojans advance to the regional semifinals of the Marion Sectional and will face Centralia at Effingham High School on Wednesday. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m.

Gabe Newman can be reached at 581-2812 or at ghnewman@eiu.edu.