BASKETBALL: Indians dominate 4th quarter, beat West Frankfort 47-37
DU QUOIN, IL - Unlike recent losses to Trico and Lebanon, there would be no late collapse by the Indians in Tuesday night's home win over West Frankfort.
Du Quoin outscored the visiting Redbirds 12-2 over the final six minutes of the game and got huge second half performances from seniors Brenden Fred and Deeja Cole in the 47-37 victory at Anders Gymnasium.
"We've done a good job of (putting teams away) sometimes, but not every night," said Indians head coach Gabe Sveda. "We've won a lot of close games, we lost a couple of them that we probably should have won - the Trico game, the Lebanon game come to mind. We've been on the other end of that as well. Our kids stuck with it, were strong with the basketball, and knocked down their free throws tonight. Give them a lot of credit, I'm proud of our kids."
A dismal first half of offense ended with Frankfort up 16-13, but the drought would end shortly after the ball was handed to Du Quoin to start the third quarter.
Fred hit a jumper with 5:42 to go in the third, then picked off a steal and took it all the way for an and-one just twenty seconds later. Fred then found Austin Mapps for a three-pointer to complete an 8-0 run for the Indians, who led 26-18 at the midway point of the third period.
"Their defense came out and pressured us, we didn't do what we needed to do as far as back-cutting in the first half," said Sveda. "We didn't go up strong, we talked about that at halftime, going up and finishing strong and getting to the foul line. We did a much better job of responding to that pressure in the second half and got the ball in Brenden's hands, and he went to work. He's got to get a little more selfish sometimes out there on the court, he's so unselfish of a player."
West Frankfort wasn't done, fighting back into the game via the three-point ball. Christian Dunning, Drew Maller and Zach Fort all hit from downtown and the game was knotted at 35-35 with 6:06 to play.
The Indians answered with seven straight points - a Fred free throw, an inside bucket from Daulton Beltz and a pair of layups from Cole. On the first Cole bucket during that stretch, the point guard was fouled on a drive to the basket and missed the free throw, but Spencer Cook came up with the rebound and kept the possession alive for Cole to score again.
"(Rebounding) is his thing," Sveda said of Cook. "He works so hard, he's a nice addition to our ball club this year. He does a great job for us on the boards. He's a strong kid, he works hard in the weight room. He can't jump extremely high, he's not blessed with 6'6 height. He's got a lot of heart and that's what gets it done for him."
The Redbirds made the Indians win it from the line and DHS was up to the task. Fred and Cole both made a pair at the charity stripe inside of a minute and a half to go and Du Quoin suddenly had a nine-point cushion.
Cole had eight of his twelve points in the decisive fourth quarter.
"He came up big for us in the second half with his defensive pressure, running the show, getting the ball in the lane like he can do," Sveda said. "The first half he was tentative, didn't get into the flow of the game. It took him a while to get going and he did a lot of good things that a senior point guard should do."
Fred led the way for Du Quoin with 18 points, 16 of which came in the second half. Cole added 12 points, Beltz had 9, Mapps and A.J. Smith 3, and Cook 2.
Five different Redbirds tied for the team lead in points with 7 - Dunning, Maller, Fort, Braxston Koehl and Trenton Easley. Gage Williams added 2 points.
The Indians (9-11) continue a busy week of action on Friday night when they host Sparta. Du Quoin will travel to Herrin on Saturday.