Du Quoin boys basketball Indians snap losing streak at Johnston City
Coming off four disappointing losses, the Du Quoin Indians played one of their best games of the season in beating Johnston City, 63-47, in the opening game of the inaugural Johnston City Arrowhead Classic Monday night.
"The kids were excited to get the win because we wanted to end that losing streak and get ourselves going," said Du Quoin Coach Jason James.
After a lackluster loss to Trico on Saturday following a thrilling one-point loss to powerhouse Nashville the night, before it took the Indians about a minute to take the lead on the JC Indians on baskets by Wade Roberson and Braeden Pursell.
Johnston City fought back taking the lead 5-4 and again 7-6 before Jacob Green drained a 3-pointer from the left side with 61 seconds left in the opening quarter to give the Indians a 9-7 lead they would not give up the rest of the game.
Kadin Mays got the second quarter off to a good start with a pair of free throws at the 36-second mark. After the JC Indians got those points back Pursell scored back-to-back baskets and Jake Prather drained a 3-pointer to give Du Quoin a 19-12 lead with 5:30 left in the half.
Thirty-two seconds later Pursell scored an old fashioned three-point play on a contested layup and the free throw. Johnston City cut the lead to 22-19 less than 30 seconds later, but the Indians were just beginning to get rolling.
Du Quoin closed out the half on a 14-3 run that began with Pursell's new fashioned 3-pointer and 40 seconds later an alley-oop basket off a great pass from Mays after the senior had stole the ball.
With less than a second left Mays put an exclamation point on the quarter with a jumper to give Du Quoin a 36-22 halftime lead that saw the Indians score 27 points, which was more than half of the points Johnston City would score in the entire game.
After shooting just 4-of-11 from the field in the first quarter the Indians blistered the nets in the second to the tune of making 14-of-26 shots while holding the JC Indians to just 8-of-26 to go with 3-of-10 in the first quarter.
The DQ Indians never let the JC Indians get closer than 11 points twice in the second half. The first came one minute into the third and the last came with 22 seconds left in the quarter on a 3-pointer that Nathan Riley got back on a 3-pointer of his own with 0.21 seconds remaining to give the Indians a 50-36 lead heading into the fourth.
Pursell led the Indians with 20 points and Riley finished with eight, Wade Roberson six, Prather five and four each from Mays, Jeremiah Tate and Maurice Washington.
Christopher 59; Du Quoin 52
On Tuesday the Indians were still riding the momentum from the night before to lead Christopher for almost 27 minutes before the Bearcats rallied to win, 59-52.
"We played hard and moved the ball really well to find the open person to hit the jumper for the first three quarters, but we kind of got away from it in the fourth quarter and let Christopher get back into it," James said.
"It's a consistency thing. We'll put one decent quarter on the board. You always want to be better than what you are, but we're kind of stagnant. We're right there instead of getting over that hump."
The Indians led 17-11 after the first quarter, 28-24 at the half and 42-37 heading into the fourth quarter. The Bearcats didn't take the lead until 5:30 remained in the game. After scoring 17 points in the first quarter, 11 in the second and 14 in the third, Du Quoin scored just 10 in the fourth quarter.
"We started to do things we didn't do in the first three quarters and they capitalized," James said. "They got three 3s out of it, got the lead, and took care of business."
Pursell led the Indians with 19 points with Mays scoring 14 points, including three from beyond the arc. Jacob Green finished with seven points, including two 3-pointers, with Roberson and Trajion Smith with six points each.
"Mays shot the ball well in the first half," James said. "We found him in the corners and he hit three 3s. Pursell scored a lot through the first three quarters, but he only had three in the fourth."
Du Quoin (7-12) is back in action at 6 p.m. Thursday against Eldorado. They will conclude the JC tournament and the week on Saturday with a 6 p.m. game vs. Anna-Jonesboro.