Sparta Mid-Winter Classic: DuQuoin makes 11th trip to Sparta finals

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[The Du Quoin Indians are within one victory of winning a seventh title at one Southern Illinois "granddaddies" of mid-winter boys basketball tournaments.

Du Quoin (15-5, 3-0) blitzed Columbia 57-43 Friday at the 46th annual Sparta Mid-Winter Classic, taking top honors in pool B and earning their 11th trip to the championship game in 24 tourney appearances here.

A three-time runner-up in the SMWC- while also taking third place six other years- the Indians face host Sparta (14-7, 3-0) at 8;30 p.m. Saturday night. Sparta won Pool A with a 57-50 victory over Trico late Friday.

"Sparta's playing well and just with so much emotion," Indians coach Mike Crews said. "No doubt it will take a huge effort on our part to win the game. It's not going to be a 25-point game (75-50 Du Quoin on Dec. 11) like the last time we played. Sparta's much, much improved."

Against Columbia, the Indians turned a 27-20 halftime lead into a 21-point edge to start the final quarter. Forcing 27 turnovers by the Eagles (14-5, 2-1), Du Quoin's defense forced an amazing 14 steals. J.C. Davis had seven of the takeaways.

Matt Gossett led the Indians- who also enjoyed a 31-14 edge in rebounding- with 15 points and eight boards. Jamor Reed scored 10 with Logan Carson and Marcus Clarry each netting eight.

Columbia plays Red Bud for third place. Waterloo and Lebanon decide fifth place with Trico and Steeleville meeting in the seventh place encounter.

Look for more details on Friday and Saturday's action at Sparta on Monday in both the print and online editions of The Call.