Junior High Basketball: Warriors Dump Sparta, PJHS Falls to Murphysbor0

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Du Quoin (Middle School) hiked its record to 5-1 Monday, defeating Junior Southwestern Egyptian Conference (Jr. SWEC) rival Sparta (Middle School) 40-32 Monday night.

DMS is 2-0 in its bid to repeat as Jr. SWEC champions and will be idle until next week.

"We have to do a better job of finishing shots in the paint and converting at the foul line if we are going to contend for the conference title," DMS coach Ryan Heape said.

"Our lack of effort on the glass kept the game a lot closer than it should have been."

Du Quoin led the entire way, but the margin didn't exceed 10 points until the final quarter as Sparta hung tough.

Camden Youngman paced the Warriors with 17 points and six rebounds. Spencer Cook added nine points, 10 rebounds and a pair of assists.

Jason Nelson (six points, seven rebounds) was also solid.

Dalton Bigham led with three assists and three steals as DMS led 12-6, 22-17 and 29-23 at the quarter-stops.

Sparta held a 32-31 rebounding edge in the game with the Cardinals also hauling in 17 offensive caroms.

In the seventh grade game, new coach Jake Emling's perfect record remained intact as 5-0 DMS pulled away for a 39-26 win.

Noah Campbell netted a game-high 14 points with Matthew Galik and AJ Smith each scoring six points.

Will Galik addedfive points and five assists.

Jacob Wright and Jerry Kuhnert each posted five rebounds.

LADY WARRIORS FALL

The DMS girls lost 31-26 at Sparta Monday.

DMS is now 4-9, 1-4 in the Jr. SWEC. They are idle until after the Thanksgiving break.

Sparta led 12-11 entering the final half of this nip-and-tuck affair, which also saw the hosts in front 6-2 and 20-19 as the first and third periods ended.

Hailey Stewart topped DMS with a 13-point game that included three three-point baskets. Abby Myers had six points.

Du Quoin (6-3, 4-1) rolled to a convincing 29-8 seventh grade win as Jacqueline Harsy threw in 11 points. Carissa Graham scored six.

MURPHY DOWNS PCHS

A powerful Murphysboro squad ran past Pinckneyville (Junior High School) Monday, 69-46, building a 52-16 halftime lead.

Chase Lazenby had 10 points for the Junior Panthers with the trio of Henry Dudek, Brayden Cowley and Justyn Rushing all scoring eight points.

Robbie Mueller and Trenton Hicks each had two buckets for PJHS.

The visiting Blue Devils also won the seventh grade affair.