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Boys Prep Basketball:Tribe Stays Afloat in Mississippi

Posted January 10, 2010 10:00 pm

Jeff Profitt

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[A frustrating streak-only about six weeks shy of turning eight years old-came to an end for Du Quoin High School's boys basketball team Friday night.

And, it couldn't have come at a better time.

Snapping a current three game loss skid-and in desperate need of re-finding some of its early season swagger-the Indians successfully defended the Anders Memorial Gymnasium floor with a 46-45 win over Nashville.

Du Quoin, 11-4, is 3-1 in Mississippi Division play of The River-to-River Conference. The Hornets, who last tasted defeat against Du Quoin in a late February 2003 rout (72-45) are 11-4 and 2-2.

Two free throws by senior point guard Jamor Reed with 5.3 seconds remaining sealed the victory, capping a dominant second half effort by the Tribe. After falling behind Nashville 23-10 with just 3:32 left before intermission, Du Quoin roared to life.

As the halftime buzzer sounded, the Indians trailed just 23-17 following a 7-0 spurt to end the quarter.

"I can't express how proud I am of these kids," Du Quoin coach Mike Crews said. "In these possession-oriented games our record hasn't been the best. But we kept our heads, didn't panic and gave ourselves a chance to win."

The Indians' start was a cold as Friday's near-zero temperatures, helping Nashvill build its big early cushion. Trailing 11-10 in the early minutes of the second frame, Du Quoin went scoreless for mor than five minutes. David Rose marked inside to pull the Indians within one before Nashville ripped off a dozen unanswered points.

Long three's by Tyler Meyer and Brock Pries left the Indians seemingly dead in the water, but a three-pointer from J.C. Davis jump-started the rally. Rose and Matt Gossett added markers as the Indians held Nashville without a point in the last 3-plus minutes.

Davis buried another three-the first of three he would hit during the period-to push Du Quoin on top for good at 28-27 five minutes into the last half. The shot closed an 18-4 spurt.

Davis wasn't finished, swishing two more three's as Du Quoin carried a 36-33 edge into the final eight minutes.

"It's not a secret to anyone that J.C.'s struggled the past few games from the perimeter," Crews said. "But he's a pure shooter and sometimes kids like that just have to shoot themselves out of a slump. Once he gets a hot hand, he can change games around in a hurry. He certainly did that tonight."

Du Quoin's biggest edge, 40-34, came with 6:20 left after Reed cashed in with two foul shots and a slashing drive to the basket.

Nashville fought back to within two, but missed a golden opportunity at a tie when Sam Brown's short jumper rimmed out.

Marcus Clarry rebounded and quickly found Davis, who zipped a pass to Reed near halfcourt. Reed hit Gossett in stride for an uncontested lay-in at the 26.6 second mark, pushing the Tribe in front by four.

Reed's foul tosses, a Pries runner and Kyle Heggemeier's uncontested three with 2.1 left completed the scoring. A desperation heave by Pries was well off the mark as the final buzzer sounded, securing Du Quoin's win.

"All across the board everyone contributed to this victory," Crews said. "Logan Schneider was very good offensively and kind of kept us afloat in the first half. We asked Logan to put the ball on the floor a little more in the second half and right away he had two nice drives for scores. Marcus Clarry didn't score a lot, but he was able to come away with some big rebounds and just played a great game defensively. I can go right down the list."

Gossett-heavily defended most of the night-ended with a game-high eight rebounds. Reed contributed six points, five assists and four steals. Schneider's effort also included six boards with Clarry pulling down four. Davis had a team-high 12 points and five steals.

For Nashville, Brown's 14 led the way. Heggemeier had 11 and Pries 10.

"That was just a very enjoyable high school basketball game to watch, "concluded Crews. "In our conference, you kind of expect these types of games."

Du Quoin hits the road next weekend for trips to Anna-Jonesboro and Trico.

Du Quoin's junior varsity claimed its third consecutive victory in Friday's preliminary, holding back Nashville, 49-44.

Sam Gossett (21) and James Williams (17) combined for all but nine of the Indians' points with Williams cashing in on six free throws in the closing minutes.

The young Indians are 5-2 overall and back to the break-even mark (2-2) in conference play.

Nashville had two double digit point-makers; Donovan Holle (14) and Alex Lietz (12).

Du Quoin 46,

Nashville 45

NCHS 10 13 10 12- 45

Du Quoin 9 8 19 10- 46

Nashville (11-4, 2-2)

Guest 0 0-0 0 Mammel 1 0-1 2, Meyer 2 2-2 7, Fieber 0 1-2 1, Pries 3 2-2 10, Brown 4 3-4 14,

Heggemeier 3 4-6 11, Holle 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 14-31 (5-11) 12-17 45.

Du Quoin (11-4 3-1)

Davis 4 0-0 12, Carson 0 0-0 0, Clarry 1 0-1 2, D. Rose 2 0-0 4, Reed 1 4-4 6, C. Rose 1 0-0 2, Schneider 5 0-0 10, M. Gossett 5 0-2 10. TOTALS 18-33 (4-7) 4-9 46.

THREE-POINTERS: Nashville 5 (Pries 2, Meyer, Brown, Heggemeier. Du Quoin 4 (Davis 4). REBOUNDS: Nashville 26, Du Quoin 30 (M. Gossett 7, Reed 7). STEALS- Du Quoin 7 (Davis 3). ASSISTS- Du Quoin 8 (Reed 5). TURNOVERS-Nashville 8, Du Quoin 12.

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