Boys Prep Basketball: Du Quoin's Indians rule the Mississippi
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[For the third time this decade, Du Quoin High School's boys basketball team wears the crown
of River-to-River Conference champions in the Mississippi Division.
Friday night, the Indians used a dominating second half effort to steamroll Anna-Jonesboro 61-36, breaking a seven-year title drought.
Du Quoin (22-6) finished 9-1 in league play, sweeping its final eight games after a pre-Christmas loss to second place Pinckneyville.
The nine loop wins are the most for a Du Quoin team since the 1981-82 and 1985-86 squads each went 10-2 in the old Southwestern Egyptian Conference (SWEC).
"This group of seniors, I just can't say enough about them," Indians coach Mike Crews said.
"There's a reason why they won this conference championship. People tell me they've sort of snuck under the radar. I don't know who the radar is, but they haven't been watching very carefully. This senior class has been a pretty special group of young people these past four years."
Du Quoin struggled with foul trouble-and against Anna-Jonesboro's (16-13, 3-7) zone defense- in the opening two frames. After bolting ahead 12-4 in the first few minutes of play, the Tribe bogged down and managed just Logan Carson's turnaround jumper in the last 3:50 of the quarter.
Trailing 14-7 as the period ended, A-J briefly knotted the score at 17-17 following a 10-3 spurt.
The Indians would carry a narrow 21-20 lead into the break, but sent top scorer and rebounder Matt Gossett to the bench with three fouls just 19 seconds into the second half.
J.R. Woodward's driving basket gave A-J its first-and last-lead a few moments later at 22-21 before Du Quoin's stifling man-to-man defense turned up the pace.
The Indians scored 17 unanswered points, a dozen coming from senior guards Jamor Reed and Marcus Clarry to regain total control.
Anna-Jonesboro managed just one other field goal during the quarter and trailed 40-24 as the horn sounded.
"We wanted to speed things up and make Anna-Jonesboro play at our pace," Crews said.
"Their zone really slowed us down in the first half. Our defense-especially Jamor Reed and Marcus Clarry-was just everywhere. During a stretch in the third quarter, Marcus seemed to get every steal, loose ball and rebound. And I what can I say about Jamor Reed ? He's been the glue that's held this team together. I can go right down the list, everyone who played tonight made big contributions. This was truly a team win."
A-J managed just five field goals in the second half.
Woodward topped the Wildcats with 11 points. 1,000 career point scorer Jordan Adams had six and Jake Pecord five.
Du Quoin had another stellar effort-20 points, six rebounds, six steals and five assists-from Reed. He was also perfect in six free throw tries. Clarry added nine points, seven boards, four steals and three assists.
Friday marked the 19th time-all Indian victories-in which the defense held its opposition to 50 points or under.
"These kids really deserve this conference title," Crews said. "I am so especially happy for the seniors.
"But there's more work to be done and I am pretty confident this group isn't satisifed with just winning the conference."
Prior to the game, Du Quoin honored its seven seniors.
Reed and Clarry were joined by classmates Gossett, Cody Rose, David Rose, Carson and Logan Schneider in the ceremony. Afterwards, the group received a standing ovation that last nearly 90 seconds.
JAYVEES WIN AGAIN
Just like their elder teammates, Du Quoin's Junior Varsity team used a dominant third quarter to pull away from Anna-Jonesboro.
Ahead just 22-18 at intermission, the young Indians outscored the visitors 19-5 during the pivotal period, pulling away for an easy 56-33 win.
Sewing up a third Mississippi Division title in the last four years, Du Quoin ended its season with a 13-3 mark and was 8-2 in the SIRR.
James Williams and Seth Baxter each scored 11 points for the Tribe.
Brandon Williams added 10 with Sam Gossett and John Galik both netting nine.
The complete roster of the 2009-2010 jayvee team includes: juniors James Williams, Seth Baxter, Sam Kuhnert and Jeremy Jones; sophomores are Levi Porter, John Galik, Cayle Diggins, Zack Cavitt, Brandon Williams, Sam Gossett, Jonathon Boss and Jesse McDicken. Freshmen dressing were Austin Mansker, Nate Boss and Brenden Fred.
The underclass seasons were success-filled for Du Quoin this winter.
The frosh squad finished 20-1 and as Mississippi Division champions.
The sophomores have a winning record entering next week's Murphysboro Tournament.