SATURDAY PREPS: Du Quoin Fights Back Gibault's Challenge
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[ A deep bench has been a strength of Du Quoin High School's Boys Basketball team all season long.
Saturday night, against a defensive-minded Waterloo Gibault squad, that depth again paid huge dividends.
The Indians had 10 key first half points from three different reserves-as starters Dalton Morgan, Seth Flint and Matt Gossett were sent to the bench early-and managed to pull away for a 65-52 victory in Anders Memorial Gymnasium.
Gibault, now 13-12, lost its fourth straight and has dropped six consecutive meetings against Du Quoin.
Now 19-6, the Indians have won 12 of 13 games in the New Year.
Barely 24 hours after a draining win over arch-rival Pinckneyville, the Tribe started slowly but finished off Gibault with a 15-4 spurt early in the fourth period.
"We had a few nice runs but our emotion and intensity seemed a little spent at times," Indians coach Mike Crews admitted. "And after that big game at Pinckneyville the night before, that was a concern of ours going into this thing. I thought our bench kids really stepped up and turned out to be a huge key to this victory."
In the second quarter-and with foul issues mounting-Logan Schneider, J.C. Davis and Cody Youngman shined off the bench.
Davis marked on a long three-pointer to push Du Quoin's narrow lead to 28-22 by intermission.
Youngman added a field goal and Schneider scored five points during the fray.
Filling in for Morgan, who drew his fourth foul late in the third quarter, Schneider drew the defensive assignment of shadowing Gibault's 6-foot-9 center Michael Hoffman.
Despite surrendering five inches-and about 40 pounds-Schneider grabbed six rebounds and recorded five steals. His defense helped frustrate Hoffman, who fouled out with four minutes left.
"I normally don't award game balls or anything like that," Crews said. "But if we did tonight I think Logan Schneider would definitely receive one. He did a great job on helping against the big kid and played well offensively, too."
With Flint and Morgan out, Matt Gossett joined Schneider in the low post and scored 12 of his game-high 19 points during the last quarter.
Gossett also contributed seven boards. Morgan finished with another double-double (13 points, 11 rebounds) while Schneider and Jamor Reed each scored nine.
Hoffman, Justin Reuter and 6'5 sophomore Kyle Prader all scored 15 for the Hawks. Hoffman finished with 11 rebounds and seven blocked shots.
Friday, the Indians host Nashville (22-2) in a showdown for River-to-River Conference supremacy in the Mississippi Division. Each team is 6-1.
Du Quoin then visits Anna-Jonesboro Saturday.
"We've got all kinds of challenges awaiting," said Crews of this weekend's schedule. "Those are going to be two very tough games."
JAYVEES SWEEP
Du Quoin's junior varsity squad improved its record to 13-0 with a pair of weekend wins. Saturday, the Indians slugged past Waterloo Gibault 49-35 in a low-scoring affair.
A 12-2 final period advantage helped seal the win.
Cody Rose was the lone young Indian to reach double figures, scoring 11 points, but a balanced attack featured Marcus Clarry with nine points. Davis and Sam Gossett netted seven points each while Schneider threw in five.
At Pinckneyville Friday, 19-for-22 fourth quarter foul shooting helped Du Quoin preserve its seventh conference win. The final score was 78-69.
Rose had a game-high 28 points, nine from the free throw line in the closing minutes. Schneider (15), Davis (14) and Clarry (12) added plenty of support.
Pinckneyville's top scorer was Jake Bathon with 13 points.
The Tribe hopes leading scorer David Rose-and his 20-plus points per game-could return by this weekend. Rose has been out the past two weeks after suffering a knee injury.
REGIONAL PAIRINGS
The IHSA Class 2A Pinckneyville Regional pairings were confirmed late last week.
Play begins Monday, Feb. 23 when top-seeded Du Quoin faces Sparta. Pinckneyville and Red Bud-the #2 and three seeds respectively-take the floor Tuesday, Feb. 24 with the finals set for Friday, Feb. 26.
All three games start at 7:30.