BOYS BASKETBALL: Murphysboro too much for Indians at Sparta MWC
Murphysboro used their quickness along with a stellar performance at the free throw line to get past Du Quoin on Thursday night, defeating the Indians 57-40 at the 51st Annual Sparta Mid-Winter Classic to set up a showdown with Waterloo on Friday to decide which team from Pool B will play for the championship on Saturday.
The loss sent Du Quoin to 1-2 at the tournament, meaning the Indians will play for fifth place on Saturday against the third place team from Pool A.
"We didn't get into much of a rhythm offensively," said DHS head coach Wendell Wheeler. "We weren't crisp after last night, and Murphysboro is so quick. (Murphysboro coach) Daryl Murphy does such a good job teaching them and they play hard, they really gave us problems. I thought we did a pretty good job defending them, we were still right there, but we couldn't keep them off the line late."
The Red Devils made 20-of-25 at the free throw line, 14-of-17 during the fourth quarter.
The Indians were in the thick of it for most of the first three quarters. The two teams sat tied at 10-10 after one, but Murphysboro's Staci LaBranche scored six of his game-high 18 points in the second quarter, during which the Devils outscored Du Quoin 12-5.
A rebound and put-back by DHS's Caleb Vogel with 6:30 to go in the third quarter brought the Indians to within five at 24-19, but they couldn't get any closer than that the rest of the way despite hitting four three-pointers in the final nine and a half minutes the game.
"We missed some shots," Wheeler said. "We did execute enough to get some nice looks, they just rimmed out, shots that to beat a team like (Murphysboro) you've got to make. We missed some free throws early, they shot the ball very well from the line. We just didn't shoot the ball well enough to win."
"Against a team that's better than you, you've got to finish, you've got to make your shots, you've got to make every possession count, and we weren't able to do that."
Jarred Thomas led DHS with 14 points, Nolan Showalter added 9, A.J. Smith 8, Vogel 3, Tucker Kuhnert and Jordan Carson 2, and Hank Stewart and Cole Hopkins 1.
The Indians (8-12, 1-2 at Sparta) play for fifth place at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday evening in Sparta High School's Fulton Gymnasium.