News

BASKETBALL: Du Quoin wins double-OT thriller with Trico

Posted January 17, 2011 10:00 pm

Doug Daniels

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Du Quoin knocked Trico from the ranks of the unbeaten on Saturday night as Connor Wheeler's ten points in the second overtime helped carry the Indians to a 81-76 victory over the visiting Pioneers in front of a rowdy, packed house at Anders Gymnasium at DHS.

"I'm so proud of our kids," said Du Quoin head basketball coach Gabe Sveda. "Unbelievable job, both teams left it all on the floor, it was a very physical ball game. Our seniors really stepped up, we had tremendous play from our bench, again. It was a total team effort."

The Indians never trailed in regulation, but coughed up a 14-point third quarter lead that set up ten minutes of extra time in a game that was as physical as it was dramatic.

James Williams and J.C. Davis hit key three-pointers in the first overtime, then it was Wheeler's scoring and tenacious Du Quoin defense that made the difference in the closing minutes.

"Defensively, overall tonight, I think we did a pretty good job," Sveda said. "We had to contain the big kid (Chase Heins), we had to get to the glass a little bit more, it was very physical down there. Our kids responded well and kept their composure, a couple times this year we've lost that, but our kids did a good job keeping it together and pulling out a good, hard-fought victory."

Du Quoin made twelve three-pointers in the game, and they fell early and often. Williams and Davis each connected twice from downtown in the opening half, as did Aaron Smith, who provided a spark off of the bench with back-to-back threes and his defense.

"Aaron Smith came in and got some big rebounds, and did an outstanding job guarding one of their best players," Sveda said, referring to Pioneer point guard Jesse Smith.

The Indians led 40-33 at the half and Wheeler's three-pointer with under two minutes to go in the third quarter gave Du Quoin their biggest lead at 57-43, but the Pioneers refused to go away.

Heins scored on back-to-back possessions, then Dylan Whithoff forced a five-second closely guarded violation on Du Quoin to set up a J. Smith jumper.

Trico completed a 10-0 run with the first four points of the fourth quarter and still trailed by just four after two J. Williams' free throws late in the period.

With 1:20 on the clock, Heins scored from inside then the Pioneers fouled Davis, who missed the front end of a one-and-one. Heins took it inside for a layup with 12 seconds left to send the game into the first five minute overtime.

"We had to settle down, we had to get more out of our possessions and work harder to get open and value the ball a little more," Sveda said.

The Indians then went back to old reliable - the three-point shot - and were rewarded with two triples from Davis and another from J. Williams, Du Quoin's only points of the first extra session. Trico was 7-for-8 from the free throw line in overtime number one, leading briefly by as many as four.

From there, Wheeler took over on offense for Du Quoin. The senior buried a three-pointer around a nice pick to open the second OT, then added a jumper with 1:12 remaining to give the Indians a 76-72 lead.

Heins scooped up a miss and stuck it back for two at the other end, but Trico had no choice but to foul Wheeler to stop the clock.

Du Quoin's leading scorer, who dropped 35 points on Anna-Jonesoboro the night before, showed nerves of steel and knocked down all four of his free throw attempts in the final 13.8 seconds.

"We put ourselves in a position to win," said Pioneers' head coach Shane Hawkins, a member of the 1994 Pinckneyville Panthers' state championship team and former assistant coach at Southern Illinois.

"We just didn't execute down the stretch."

Wheeler's 24 points led the way for Du Quoin, J. Williams added 19 before fouling out late in the second overtime.

"He's a hustler, he does everything you ask out of him," Sveda said of J. Williams. "He gets all over the boards, rebounds extremely hard for us, handles the ball, does so many things, he hit some big shots tonight."

Davis (14 points) and Sam Gossett (12) gave Du Quoin four players in double-digit scoring totals. A. Smith added 6 points, Brandon Williams 4 and John Galik 2.

B. Williams made his second start, a lineup change that reflected the size and post presence Du Quoin faced against Anna-Jonesboro and Trico this weekend.

Heins led all scorers with 29 points for the Pioneers (15-1), J. Smith added 24.

The Indians were lights out from beyond the three-point arc, making 12-of-20, many coming in key spots in the ball game.

Du Quoin (13-2) has little time to celebrate the dramatic victory - the Indians head to Sparta beginning Tuesday for the 47th annual Sparta Mid-Winter Classic, where they will meet Steeleville at 5:30 p.m. Du Quoin then takes on Waterloo at 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday before running into another unbeaten team in the Murphysboro Red Devils on Friday (8:30 p.m.).

<u>Wheeler scores 35 in win over A-J</u>

On Friday night, Du Quoin jumped out to a 13-2 lead on Anna-Jonesboro and never trailed as the Indians knocked off the visiting Wildcats 70-55 behind a stellar 35-point performance by Wheeler.

"Our effort was good overall," said Sveda. "There's still some things we can work on, we had some good performances out there. Connor had a heck of a game for us. Our big kids, our posts players, came in and did a great job."

"(Anna) has a lot of size, they've got the 6'7 kid (Tyler Duckworth), a 6'4 kid, (Brady) Wright, they do a nice job for them and our kids hung in there, battled them, and got on the boards."

Wheeler made his first five shot attempts, three from beyond the three-point arc, and finished with 15 points in the first quarter as the Indians led 19-10.

Duckworth cut the Du Quoin lead to just three, but J. Williams hit back-to-back jumpers and the Indians were ahead 26-19 with 4:00 to go in the first half.

B. Williams received his first career start in the game, but was in some early foul trouble, so Jesse McDicken was able to contribute with a layup just before the half to extend Du Quoin's advantage.

"Jesse McDicken had a heck of a game coming off the bench," Sveda said. "He played a lot of minutes for us, rebounded the ball and posted hard."

The Wildcats got no closer than six in the second half and Wheeler continued to pour it on with eleven fourth quarter points to seal the conference victory.

Aaron Smith scored 11 points off the bench for Du Quoin, J. Williams added 8, Gossett 6, B. Williams 5, and Davis and McDicken 2.

Article Categories
News