Steeleville upsets Du Quoin in Murphy tournament

<span style="font-weight: 400;">MURPHYSBORO -- Anybody simply looking at the boxscore may wonder how Steeleville turned its fortunes around against Du Quoin on Monday.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Owen Gross scored 31 points, and the Warriors rallied from a 16-point deficit with 6:53 left in the second quarter to stun Du Quoin, 65-63, and advance to Saturday's consolation semifinals of the Murphysboro Sophomore Basketball Tournament.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Their pressure was pretty hard early on," said Gross, who had all but 11 of his points in the second half. "That big kid's really long. He's hard to throw the ball around."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Gross was referring to 6-foot-6 Du Quoin freshman Lamontay Daugherty, who is already getting college looks and led the Indians with 19 points in the loss.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">But Steeleville's defense, combined with a Herculean effort by Gross, allowed the Warriors to hack away at the deficit - with Steeleville trailing only 36-31 at halftime after Daugherty hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer.</span>

To read more details about the game, see the March 3 print edition of the Steeleville Ledger.