BASKETBALL: Indians' rally falls short against Carmi
Du Quoin nearly erased an eleven-point fourth quarter deficit and had a shot to take the lead with under ten seconds to play, but the Indians' rally fell just short as Carmi-White County escaped with a 61-59 victory at Anders Gymnasium on the first night of the 2014 Du Quoin Tip-Off Classic on Monday.
Several what-if scenarios emerged throughout the night for DHS with a two-point first quarter for the Indians, two huge three balls by the Bulldogs to end the third, and sending Carmi to the line for 43 free throw attempts topping the list.
"We just can't put anybody on the line 43 times, that killed us," said Du Quoin head coach Wendell Wheeler. "We've got to do a better job on that."
"They were tough, that's a good basketball team. They've got great size and they play to the size, and they make enough threes to hurt you. They hit them when they needed to. They're going to win a lot of games."
Nothing would fall for the Indians in the first eleven minutes of the ball game. Caleb Vogel tied the score at 2-2 with an inside bucket with 5:42 left in the opening quarter, and DHS failed to put a shot through the net again until A.J. Smith's corner three-pointer with 4:39 to go in the half that made it 13-5 in favor of Carmi.
The Indians clawed their way back to within five at the break, though, and with 5:09 to go in the third quarter Jarred Thomas' two free throws after getting fouled on a put-back attempt tied the game at 30-30.
It was still a two-point game late in the period when in a span of fifteen seconds at the end of the quarter, Carmi hit back-to-back three-pointers, the second one coming from near half court at the buzzer by Drew Lucas for his only points of the game. The Bulldogs led 44-36 heading to the fourth.
The lead was at eleven after Zach Vaught connected from downtown with 5:47 to play for three of his fifteen points, but Du Quoin still had a run left in them.
Thomas hit a driving layup with 3:06 to go that sparked a 14-4 run for the Indians. During that stretch, Brock Bullar hit a pair of triples, the latter making it a one-point game with 37.1 ticks on the clock after Du Quoin stole Carmi's inbounds pass.
"Foul trouble really hurt (Bullar)," Wheeler said, "because he hit some big threes in the fourth quarter. We've just got to become consistent. We've got to do a better job of setting our screens and things like that."
Clay Vaught missed two free throws at the other end to give the Indians a shot at the win, but Thomas' driving shot attempt was off the mark with just a few seconds remaining, and Nolan Showalter's desperation three from three-quarter court at the horn clanged off the front iron to allow the Bulldogs to hang on.
"We got Thomas in the lane with contact, the only thing is you've got to go stronger to the rim and try to make it," said Wheeler. "If he makes it we're talking about what a great night this is. That last thirty seconds we executed pretty well. I was pretty happy with it."
Carmi scored twelve of their seventeen fourth quarter points at the free throw line. Smith and Tucker Kuhnert both fouled out for Du Quoin and five other Indians had at least three personals by the end of the night.
Making his debut for the Indians, the sophomore Thomas led the way with 20 points off the bench and was a perfect 10-for-10 at the free throw line. Vogel, another sophomore, chipped in with a dozen points.
"(Thomas) has been hobbled a little bit with the foot, but he did a great job coming off the bench," Wheeler said. "Once he comes in we don't want that thing to stiffen up. Our leading scorers are two sophomores and we think both of them have a chance to be very good players."
Wheeler added that he was encouraged by the way the offense played over the last 21 minutes of the game, during which they scored 57 of their 59 points.
"We're still building," said Wheeler, "but this team tonight, from the team that played in the Regional in February, we were really proud of the way we played. We played hard, they just kept plugging away. Their effort and their attitudes, the way they're going, it's a great group to be with."
Showalter added ten points for DHS, Bullar had eight, Smith five and Kuhnert four. Tucker Grey led Carmi with sixteen points.
Du Quoin will take on Cairo, who fell to Hamilton County on Monday night, in the 7:30 game on Wednesday.