BASKETBALL: Big 4th quarter lifts DHS over Murphysboro
DU QUOIN, IL - Trailing by one entering the fourth quarter, Du Quoin began the final frame with an 8-0 run to help them put away Murphysboro and improve to 2-0 at the Sparta Mid-Winter Classic on Wednesday night with a 39-32 victory.
Austin Mapps had the hot hand for the Indians, scoring 15 points and canning a trio of three-pointers in the first half.
"He's playing with a lot of confidence right now," said DHS head coach Gave Sveda of Mapps. "He had his head down a little bit earlier in the season, but now he's playing with a lot of confidence. He brings it every day in practice, he always has the energy, he's always a leader out there, he's always positive. He's really got confidence right now in his shot and his team has confidence in him."
Mapps' three triples helped Du Quoin build a 20-12 lead midway through the second quarter, but Murphysboro responded by closing out the half on an 11-0 run of their own to lead 23-20 after sixteen minutes.
Neither team lit up the scoreboard all night, but that was especially true during the third quarter when the Indians outscored Murphy 6-5, holding the Devils to a single field goal in the period.
In the fourth, Deeja Cole drove to the goal for the first two buckets of the quarter for Du Quoin, finishing with a lay-up and a pull-up eight-footer to force a Murphysboro timeout. Mapps added a jumper and Daulton Beltz put in two free throws to cap off the 8-0 run and give the Indians a lead they would not relinquish.
"We talked about that at halftime, we've got to learn how to answer runs without calling timeout every time somebody makes a run at us," Sveda said. "We did that tonight, we answered their runs. I'm happy for our team, it was a total team effort tonight, the kids stepped up and I'm happy for our seniors."
After Cole's free throws with less than a minute to go in the game made it 36-32, Brenden Fred - seeing his first action since January 4th - escaped a double-team and found John Erwin under the basket for a lay-up, a foul, and ultimately a three-point play to put it out of reach for the Red Devils.
Cole finished with 8 points, 6 coming in the fourth quarter when the Indians made their push to the lead.
"He's really stepping up for us," said Sveda. "He hasn't ran the point guard position too much in the past, and he's really filling that role nicely. Our kids are doing a nice job of getting him the ball, getting him some space to work. He does such a good job of getting the basketball in the lane and finding the open man, he's very unselfish. He's a good point guard and I think he's understanding now what it takes to be a good point. He's taking control of the basketball, he's not turning it over as much as he was in the past and I'm really happy for the kid."
Beltz and Fred each had 5 points, Erwin and Spencer Cook both finished with 3. Murphysboro was led by 10 points from Jacob Baird and Anthony Hibbler.
Fred didn't start and played limited minutes, but the bone bruise that forced him to miss 10 days of action didn't seem to limit the senior all that much. Sveda estimated Fred to be at around 70-80%, though he noted Fred himself would "tell you he's 100%."
"He came out hot and hitting, but he hasn't played for a few weeks," said Sveda. "He's got to get his legs back underneath of him. He got worn down a little bit, we got him in and out. It'll be a slow process for him but he did a nice job of coming in and filling some minutes."
A big test awaits the Indians on Thursday when they meet up with Waterloo and 6'7 state high jump champion Justin Kretchmer.
"We're playing with a lot more confidence now, a lot more poise," Sveda said. "Seniors have got to do that, we've got a lot of seniors on the court. Waterloo will be a tough challenge for us, they've got some size, they're physical. We're going to have to have something ready for them and we've got to do a better job rebounding. I thought we did at times tonight, but we had too many loose balls get away from us and too many second chances for Murphysboro at the basket."
The Bulldogs and Indians (8-9) tip off at 7:00 p.m. at Fulton Gym in Sparta.