BASKETBALL: DMS survives scare in round one
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Trico Junior High School outscored DuQuoin Middle School's Boys Basketball Team 10-2 in the fourth quarter at the Trico Regional on Wednesday evening to draw within two points, and nearly upset the top-seeded Warriors. DMS barely held on to that two point lead (37-35) to advance into the championship game on Friday evening at 6:00 with the Number Two seed, Murphysboro.
DuQuoin led throughout the game, and was up eight points at the end of the first quarter at 16-8. DuQuoin was leading by 13 points at the half (27-14). Trico cut the lead to ten points at the end of three quarters at 35-25, but DuQuoin went cold in the fourth quarter only scoring two points. Trico took advantage and closed the lead to two points. Trico had the ball with 2.3 second left, but could not get close enough to the basket for a decent shot.
The Warriors missed the front end of three one-and-one opportunities at the free throw line in the fourth quarter, leaving the door wide open for the Junior Pioneers to storm back.
DuQuoin and Trico had played three times previously before meeting again in the Regional. DuQuoin had won all three games by margins of 17, 26, and 7 points. But the Regional is a new season, and a much improved Trico gave DuQuoin all it could handle in this game. DuQuoin was fortunate that the clock was on their side in this contest. A few more seconds might have given Trico a shot at a tie or even a one point win.
Jarred Thomas led DuQuoin's scoring with 15 points. Brock Bullar had 8 points, Tucker Kuhnert 7, Hunter Behm 4, and Jacob Wright 3. Other team members are Cole Hopkins, Braden Heape, Caleb Vogel, Trace Klein, Chad Heatherly, Donovan Hamilton, Dalton Day, and Nick King.
Trico was led in scoring by Jake Compton with 13 points. Trenton Koch had 10 points, Grant Kelly 6, Damian McCarty 4, and Ethan Little 2. Others seeing action were Brandon Froemling, Hunter Ogle, Hunter Lodge, and Alex Jines.
DuQuoin Coach Ryan Heape thought "it wasn't pretty, but we survived. At this point in the season, that is all that matters. You want your kids to learn from that experience and make every effort to not let it happen again."
"I felt that we did everything right as a staff at the end. We wanted them to foul us, but you have to make those free throws, and we didn't. Ninety percent of the time that costs you the game. Mentally it is tough to play a team four times and beat them. This is the third consecutive year in the regional where we have won the first round by less than five points, and in all three we were the Number One seed."
The Assistant Coach for DuQuoin is Jacob Emling.
DuQuoin will play in the Regional Championship game at Trico against Murphysboro on Friday evening at 6:00. DuQuoin has played Murphysboro during the regular season on two occasions, winning both times.
DuQuoin will need to bring "their A game" on Friday evening in order to win the Regional Championship. The Warriors have had a stellar season, but will need to play with intensity in all four quarters of the ball game to advance to the Class L State Tournament. At this time of the season, there are no tomorrows unless you continue to win.
DuQuoin's overall record is now 15-7.
Murphysboro defeated Sparta in the second game of the evening.
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