BASKETBALL: Johnson's buzzer-beater dooms Du Quoin
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[While offensive rebounding may have been the ultimate determining factor in the outcome of Wednesday's Du Quoin-Cairo matchup at the 14th Annual Du Quoin Tip-Off Classic, Devante Johnson's three-pointer with 7.5 seconds left in the game proved to be the deciding bucket.
After D. Johnson brought the Pilots' bench to their feet with his shot from the wing to put Cairo up by one, the Indians had the length of the floor to go and could not get a shot off, falling 51-50 after Nate Boss couldn't escape a double-team near midcourt.
"I wasn't expecting them to throw two guys out there at us like that," said DHS head basketball coach Gave Sveda. "We kind of left him alone, and we shouldn't have done that. We kind of set up our offense down there and left him, but that was a gamble on their part and it paid off."
What put the Indians into that situation, however, was poor control of the defensive glass and a 15-for-26 night at the free throw line.
"They went to the glass awfully hard on us," said Sveda. "It wasn't just second chance, it was third, fourth chance sometimes. We have to be more disciplined than that, and we'll get better at it. Ball games like this are good for us, win, lose, whatever. We've got to react, and we'll learn from this."
The Pilots were in control 16-9 midway through the second quarter when Cayle Diggins connected for three from the top of the key, his second triple of the night.
That shot seemed to spark some offense for the Indians, as Daulton Beltz hit back-to-back three-pointers from opposite corners of the floor, then Diggins struck again with 49 seconds to go in the half to put Du Quoin up 25-24.
Da. Beltz tipped a rebound in just prior to the halftime buzzer for a three-point DHS lead at the break.
Neither team led by more than three points in the entire second half of the game, not that Du Quoin didn't have opportunities. Early in the fourth quarter, the Indians missed seven of their first eleven free throws before Brenden Fred knocked down a pair with 55.2 seconds left in the game to put Du Quoin up 49-46.
Jalen Childs scored on an alley-oop with 42 seconds to go, then N. Boss hit one-of-two at the line before Cairo set up D. Johnson's game-winner.
Cairo's quickness, which gave DHS fits throughout the game, again proved to be too much on the game's final play as N. Boss was trapped near the center circle and forced into a turnover.
"I thought we were more prepared for (their quickness)," Sveda said. "We knew they were going to be athletic and it just seemed like we weren't in the proper stance at times, we've got to rotate a little bit better. We'll get that, these are new guys coming out here and you've got to give them some time to work."
"It's about getting better each day, and we got better throughout this game in certain areas just finding things out."
Diggins led three Indians in double figures with 12 points. Brandon Williams had 11, Da. Beltz 10. Also scoring for Du Quoin were John Galik (9 points), John Boss (3), N. Boss (3), and Fred (2). Cordell Johnson led Cairo with 12 points.
In the 6:30 matchup, Benton staked its claim as one of the Tip-Off favorites with a 65-22 thrashing of Waltonville in which eleven Rangers got into the scorebook compared to just three Spartans.
The 22 points by Waltonville is a new record for the fewest points scored by a team in a single Tip-Off game, breaking the previous mark of 28 - set by the Spartans against Du Quoin on Monday.
Jared Johnston led Benton with 13 points, Mason Childers and Daulton Ward added 8 apiece, Trey Garret and Tyler Leffler each finished with 7.
Jordan Hale led the Spartans with 10 points, Trey Witges chipped in 9.
The Tip-Off Classic resumes on Friday night with Benton (1-0) and Cairo (1-2) facing off at 6:30 p.m. and Du Quoin (1-1) meeting Vandalia (1-0) at 8:00 p.m.
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