BASKETBALL: Olney feeds Du Quoin a taste of defeat
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Brook Pampe set a new Duster Thomas Hoops Classic single-game scoring record with 30 points as defending tournament champion Olney handed Du Quoin their first loss of the season 51-36 to finish up the first session of this year's holiday tournament in Pinckneyville.
"They're awfully good," admitted first-year Indians' head coach Gabe Sveda. "They're fundamentally sound, they take the open shot, they play tremendous defense. You've got to give them a lot of credit, they did an excellent job, they're well coached, well-prepared. Hats off to them."
Five lead changes and a pair of ties summed up the opening ten minutes of the game, but the Indians threatened to break away around the 5:45 mark of the second quarter when Sam Gossett scored seven straight points to give Du Quoin a 20-12 edge.
Pampe would not allow his Tigers to go down that easily, burying back-to-back three-pointers sandwiched around an Indians possession where Du Quoin missed three shot attempts.
James Williams answered with a three, but Pampe scored on a put-back then grabbed a loose rebound and stuck it in for the final points of the first half with Du Quoin clinging to a 23-22 lead.
The lead changed hands five more times in the third period, the fifth coming after Gossett's third foul set up a Pampe three-point play to tie the game at 29-29. Then the talented sophomore added another free throw with less than a second on the clock to give Olney a 1-point lead heading to the fourth.
"In the second half we came out a little flat, the first pass we made in the second half, we dropped it and it went out of bounds and that kind of tells the story about the second half," said Sveda.
"We have to learn as a team that when times get tough like that, we've got to learn to come together, play as a team and stick to the game plan."
Pampe continued his assault there, scoring the first five points of the final frame before Sveda called for timeout to try and slow down the sharpshooter and get something going for his offense.
Conner Wheeler ended a five-minute-plus scoring drought for the Indians with a three-pointer with 6:02 to play in the game that cut Olney's lead to six, but Du Quoin got no closer the rest of the way. The Tigers milked the clock on offense while continuing to add to their lead.
Fehrenbacher complemented Pampe's monster game with 15 points of his own while grabbing 6 rebounds. Pampe led that category, too, with 7.
Gossett's 11 points were tops for Du Quoin, Wheeler pitched in 10, J. Williams 8, Seth Baxter 5 and Brandon Williams 2. Wheeler finished with a team-best 6 rebounds and 3 steals.
Olney shot a red-hot 10-for-17 (59%) from the floor in the second half and out-rebounded Du Quoin 25-19.
The Tigers need only to conquer Benton in Tuesday's first session (1:00 p.m.) to advance into the Championship game at 8:30 p.m.
Du Quoin faces Steeleville at 10:00 a.m. with their second game of the day yet to be determined.
<u>Du Quoin 63, Benton 54</u>
In the nightcap of Monday's tournament action, the Indians used a 17-0 run spanning from the midway point of the first quarter until over two and a half minutes into the second to build a lead and hang on to top Benton 63-54.
"It's tough to regroup when (your first loss) happens the same day as you play again that night, you don't get a chance to regroup in practice like you'd like," said Sveda.
"Our kids did a nice job coming together, we executed a little bit better offensively tonight. You've got to give the kids a lot of credit."
The Rangers led 10-6 with 4:30 remaining in the first quarter, but Gossett scored on an up-and-under move and J. Williams hit a pullup jumper on a fast break to tie the game.
Wheeler scored the next seven points including a three and Rangers' head coach Ron Winemiller called for timeout with 1:04 on the first quarter game clock.
Early in the second quarter, Brandon Williams came in off the bench and made a steal near midcourt, took it the distance and slammed it home with two hands to keep the Indian run going.
"Brandon Williams is starting to find his way on the floor a little bit," said Sveda. "He did an excellent job coming in in the post, he plays hard, rebounds for us, looks to kick it when he's doubled, goes to the basket hard, does some really good things for us."
Aaron Smith completed a four-point play following an intentional foul and suddenly Du Quoin led 23-10.
"(Smith) can come in, really, for any of the five spots on the floor. He's asked to do so much, he does a great job defensively, and he's starting to understand the game a bit better offensively for us," said Sveda.
The Rangers stuck around as Cody Smith connected from downtown, but J.C. Davis was good on back-to-back threes before the break and the Indians led 38-26 heading into halftime.
The Rangers got as close as seven late in the fourth, but could never get all the way over the hump in the second half as Du Quoin continued their hot shooting (15-of-45, 55%) and solid rebounding (21 boards to Benton's 12).
"Our ball movement was a lot better, we looked to find the open man and did a better job running our offense, moving the ball," Sveda said. "Defensively we did a good job of rebounding, we won the rebound battle, it's been a while since we've done that. We did a better job of boxing off."
Wheeler's 24 points led the Indians, Davis had 10, Baxter 9, Gossett 8, Smith 6, B. Williams 4 and J. Williams 2.
Suver led the Rangers with 26 points.