Junior High Basketball Rivals Night: DMS Warriors Pull Away from Pinckneyville

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Despite a season-high 20 turnovers, Du Quoin Middle School kept its record perfect in the Junior Southwestern Egyptian Conference (Jr. SWEC) Tuesday night.

The Warriors (7-1) improved to 4-0 in league play with a hard-fought 50-34 win over Pinckneyville (Junior High School).

An early DMS lead slipped away in the waning moments of the opening half as PJHS briefly forged ahead at 17-16. The Warriors then mounted an 8-2 run to close the second quarter and pushed ahead 24-19 by halftime.

The Junior Panthers would get no closer as the lead quickly reached double figures.

Spencer Cook led DMS with 13 points and nine rebounds. Jason Nelson chipped in a dozen points while missing just one of seven field goal tries. Point guard Camden Mercier was also solid, scoring 10 points and handing out eight assists.

Cook, Mercier and Matt Galik combined for 10 steals.

"I am proud of our kids as they continue to get a little better each game," DMS coach Ryan Heape said. "Give Pinckneyville a lot of credit as they forced us into several turnovers."

Lucas Carter had 10 points for the Junior Panthers with Chase Lazenby and Robbier Mueller each netting eight.

Du Quoin (7-0, 4-0) remained undefeated the seventh grade level, winning Tuesday's preliminary.

Will Galik (12) and Noah Campbell (10) were the scoring leaders.

Galik had seven assists with AJ Smith leading in rebounds (seven).

Jacob Wright hit a pair of three-pointers for the young Warriors.