Junior High Roundup: DMS boys, girls drop tough decisions
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Du Quoin Middle School saw its Junior Southwestern Egyptian Conference (Jr. SWEC) title hopes slip farther away Thursday night, following a 29-27 loss to league-leading Murphysboro (Middle School).
The Warriors, 11-4, are 6-3 in league play with three games remaining.
"We kept the game at the tempo we needed to win," Du Quoin coach Ryan Heape said. "We just could not consistently convert the 8-to-10 foot shots we needed."
Du Quoin had 13 points and eight rebounds from Spencer Cook, who also had three steals.
Cody Youngman added six points and eight boards with Camden Mercier (two) leading in assists.
Murphysboro led 26-18 to start the final quarter and DMS had a chance to tie or win the game with 4.8 seconds to go, but committed a turnover.
The DMS seventh grade squad put together one of its best efforts of the season, avenging its only loss with a 46-30 win in Thursday's preliminary.
Balanced scoring was the watchword for the young Warriors, who had 11 points from Will Galik and near-double digit games from Jacob Wright (nine), AJ Smith (eight) and Matthew Galik (eight).
Nolan Showalter's four points, three by Noah Campbell, two from Jon Harsy and one by Jacob Valier completed the scoring.
"We played good defense again," said DMS coach Jacob Emling.
"And we played better as a team on offense tonight."
Du Quoin Middle School ended the girls basketball season-the final one for retiring coach David Lewis-with a narrow regional tournament loss Thursday night.
The Lady Warriors, 6-17, fell 40-31 against top-seeded and host Trico in the Southern Illinois Junior High School Athletic Association (SIJHSAA) Class L Region III seminfinals.
DMS carried a 22-20 lead into the final quarter before the host Lady Pioneers posted a 22-20 advantage to finish things out.
Trico and Herrin-which defeated Sparta in the second game Thursday-advanced into the title game.
Abby Myers scored 12 points to pace DMS with Katrina Whitley adding eight.
Bailie Caldwell (six) and Hailey Stewart (five) completed the scoring.
Trico led 17-10 at halftime/