The Road to Peoria: Tribe again takes Perry County braggin' rights
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Prior to Wednesday's thriller at the Herrin Class 2A Sectional tournament, the Illinois High School Association (IHSA) might seriously consider making "The Battle of the Beaucoup" an annual thing on its post season agenda.
The latest installment in the long-standing Perry County rivalry- the first at the sectional level since 1986- drew a capacity crowd to Memorial Gymnasium and wasn't decided until Du Quoin's Jamor Reed sank a pair of foul tosses with 15.8 seconds left.
The Indians, 25-6, moved into their first sectional final since 2003 with the 49-43 victory and will play 28-2 Murphysboro at 7:30 Friday.
Pinckneyville ended another banner season at 24-6.
It's Du Quoin's first trip to the "Sweet 16" in the brief history of Illinois' four-class system.
The last time the Indians were part of the final 16 came a quarter-century ago.
"I really thought the Du Quoin Indians played with a lot of purpose tonight and really defended well," Tribe coach Mike Crews said. "What a great high school basketball game. The crowd was just super on both sides. It was, I thought, a really good high school ball game. This is what you play for and I thought we responded."
Du Quoin led 12-8 after one quarter and threatened to blow things wide open during the closing minutes of the opening half.
After Drew Dudek (21 points) put Pinckneyville ahead 16-15 on a nice cut to the hoop, Du Quoin
ripped off the game's first big spurt. An 8-0 burst included baskets by Reed and Matt Gossett and ended with two foul shots from Gossett.
A pair of foul tosses from Logan Carson stretched the margin to 27-20 by halftime.
Gossett had 12 of the Indians' points by intermission while Dudek countered with 11 for the Panthers.
"At the end of the second quarter, we're holding for one shot and we have a turnover," said Pinckneyville coach Bob Waggoner. "They go down and get a basket. People don't realize how much something like that hurts."
While the Panthers struggled to finish the half, the third quarter was all Pinckneyville.
Ratcheting up the defensive pressure, Waggoner's squad held Du Quoin to just 1-of-9 shooting from the floor. A field goal from J.C. Davis and free throw by Cody Rose were the only points the Indians could manage.
Landon Chandler's run-out basket tied things at 29-29. The 11-3 run peaked when Dudek's bucket pushed Pinckneyville ahead 31-30 with 2:48 left in the period. Neither team scored again before the horn.
"They were making a run and at the same time we really weren't doing a whole lot," Crews said.
"But we knew Pinckneyville wasn't going to lay down. They are too well-coached and have way too much tradition to ever do that."
Dudek pumped home another basket to start the final frame and gave Pinckneyville its biggest lead of the night 14 seconds in.
Nathan Morton (14 points, 8 rebounds) produced the last tie of the night with two more free tosses at the 3:35 mark.
With just more than three minutes left in the game, Reed's kick-out pass to Davis led to an uncontested Davis 3-pointer that put the Indians ahead for good.
Reed's first two free throws pushed the lead to 40-35 18 seconds later. Pinckneyville never got any closer than two the rest of the way, and never had the ball with a chance to take the lead.
Another Dudek drive to the basket did pull the Panthers back to within 45-43 at the 29 second mark, but Gossett and Reed finishing the scoring by sinking four straight charity throws.
Reed responded at crunch time, making all six of his free throws and eight of his points in the last three minutes of the game.
Reed's scoring streak came shortly after he assisted on Davis' basket that gave the Indians the lead for good.
"Jamar had a nice drive to the basket there and he kicked it out to J.C. who hit a big three," Crews said. "Down the stretch I thought we were strong with the ball and went to the free throw line and made enough to get out of here. Jamor just doesn't like to lose. He's became awfully efficient at the foul line."
Reed had 14 points, a pair of steals and three assists. He joined Gossett as the lone two Indians scoring in double digits.
Davis added seven and Carson five in the foul-filled affair. Carson blocked four shots and altered several more.
Morton and Dudek scored all but eight of the Pinckneyville points as the two squads combined for 44 fouls and 37 trips to the foul line.
"It was a possession game and we did a great job of limiting Du Quoin's possession for a few stretches in the game," Waggoner said. "Especially there in the third quarter. But the problem for us is we just couldn't continue that. That's a good ballclub. Give Du Quoin all the credit. They really took care of the ball and hit their free throws."
Down the stretch, the Indians sank 10-of-13 attempts.
THREE-POINT SHOOTERS
Earlier Wednesday, Schneider finished fifth in the Country Financial Three-Point Showdown.
The top four shooters-Herrin's Jamie Jones, Landon Stewart (Benton) , Treavor Morgan (Sparta) and Chester's Zach Lochhead. advanced to the final round.
At 6:50 Friday, they'll shoot against the winners from Tuesday: Dylan Craig of Murphysboro, Tyler Lee and Tyler Sommer from Massac County and Harrisburg's Cain Sheldon .
Du Quoin 49, Pinckneyville 43
PINCKNEYVILLE (24-6)
Dudek 10 1-1 21, Chandler 2 (1) 0-0 5, Bathon 1 0-0 2, Morton 3 8-8 14, Kellerman 0 0-1 0, Shopinski 0 0-0 0, Pyatt 0 0-0 0, Lamb 0 1-2 2, Queen 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 16 (1) 10-13 43.
Du QUOIN (25-6)
Davis 3 0-0 7, Clarry 1 0-0 3, Reed 4 6-6 14, Schneider 1 3-4 5, M. Gossett 4 7-8 15, Carson 1 2-4 4, D. Rose 0 0-0 0, C. Rose 0 1-2 1, S. Gossett 0 0-0. TOTALS 14 (3) 19-24 49.
PCHS 8 12 11 12-43
DHS 12 15 03 19-49
Three-pointers: PCHS 1 (Chandler), DHS 3 (Clarry, M. Gossett, Schneider. Team Fouls: PCHS 22, DHS 22. Fouled out: Clarry. Rebounds: PCHS 22 (Morton 8), DHS 26 (M.Gossett 7). Steals: PCHS 5 (Morton 2), DHS 6 (Schneider 3). Assists: PCHS 7 (Kellerman 3), DHS 9 (Davis 4). Turnovers: PCHS 14, DHS 12.