BASKETBALL: Thrilling comeback saves Indians' season
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[It appeared as though Du Quoin's 2011-12 boys varsity basketball season was going to end with a thud in Wednesday night's semifinal at the Class 2A Benton Regional with just a minute and a half to play and the Indians down by six.
Things changed in a hurry, and Du Quoin played mistake-free down the stretch, hitting six-of-six at the free throw line in the final minute to knock out Hamilton County 44-42 and advance to Friday's 7:30 p.m. championship game against the host Rangers.
"(Our kids) kept believing and never gave up," said Indians' head coach Gabe Sveda. "We didn't have the lead the entire game and then we wore them down at the end I thought."
"Hats off to McLeansboro tonight also, both teams left everything on the floor and that's what this time of year is all about."
Du Quoin was ice cold in the opening quarter while Foxes Adam Rubenacker and Tyler Cross each put in three-pointers during a 14-4 period for Hamilton County. The Indians trailed by twelve with 5:41 to go in the third quarter when they began to chip away.
A 12-2 run got Du Quoin within a pair and they held H-Co to just six third quarter points.
"We were down 10-12 points for a big part of the game, and you can't get a ten-point play, so you have to take it one possession at a time and our kids believed in it," Sveda said. "I thought we executed well all night, we just missed a lot of buckets early, missed some free throws early, but they continued to believe and showed a lot of character tonight, I'm proud of them."
Both teams began to run into serious foul trouble in the fourth quarter. Du Quoin lost Brandon Williams with 5:07 to go in the game, and the Foxes would end up losing C.J. Lemmons, Chad Flannigan and Levi Leuke to fouls before the night was over.
Neither team was shooting the ball particularly well at the charity stripe until Lueke sank a pair for a 42-36 Foxes lead with 1:32 to go, but the Indians were far from finished.
Brenden Fred was credited for a tip-in after missing twice and getting his own rebound with 1:13 to go, then Austin Mansker swiped a steal and fed Nate Boss who was fouled. Boss calmly sank both free throws with 51.7 seconds remaining, and Du Quoin was within two.
Rubenacker, who had a made free throw wiped out with 2:35 to go for a lane violation, came up empty on two freebies with 28.7 on the clock and Du Quoin headed the other way. Daulton Beltz grabbed an offensive rebound and was fouled with 12.9 left, and canned them both to tie the score.
N. Boss stole it away from Lemmons on the Foxes' next possession, and Lemmons fouled out of the game with 6.7 to go as he tagged Boss. The junior made good on both free throws, giving him just four points in the game, but all of them in the final minute.
"We had some juniors come in and knock down some big free throws," Sveda said, "what a tough job that is to come in and knock both those down."
A desperation heave for Hamilton County was well off the mark and the Indians survived to play another day.
John Galik was the only Du Quoin player in double figures with 14 points, Fred added 8, Mansker 7, Da. Beltz 6, N. Boss 4, Dillon Beltz 3 and Williams 2.
Du Quoin (13-16) has split with Benton thus far in 2011-12, falling to them at the season-opening Tip-Off Classic but extracting revenge at the Duster Thomas Hoops Classic in December.
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