BASKETBALL: Du Quoin's drought continues at Sparta
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Du Quoin failed to snap out of their recent funk on Thursday night, losing their fifth game in a row and sixth out of their last seven when Cairo pulled away for a 60-47 win at the 2012 Sparta Mid-Winter Classic.
The Indians couldn't handle the Pilots' quickness, turning the ball over 21 times against Cairo's zone defense and trailing by as many as 20 points before making a late run.
"We can't come out and have fifteen turnovers in the first half," said Indians' head coach Gabe Sveda. "That was probably the game right there. It's tough to simulate their zone in practice, and give them credit, their kids played hard. They kind of put us away in the first half."
The start time was pushed back around 30 minutes after a mix-up between tournament organizers and the officials scheduled to work the contest. Once two of the three gentlemen made it to the arena, the game tipped off and both teams appeared to be feeling the effects of the delay.
"We felt really good with our pre-game talk (prior to the delay)," Sveda said, "but it was both teams. You can't blame (the delay), Cairo had to wait as well and they had a longer (bus) trip than we had. That's never easy, but you've got to come out and still play basketball."
A flurry of turnovers and missed shots at both ends resulted in a 4-3 Cairo lead after Jalen Child's tip-in with 4:43 to go in the period, then the Pilots got some short-range baskets to fall and led 8-3 before Du Quoin rallied with a 7-0 run.
Dillon Beltz had a pair of steals and a three-pointer in the stretch which gave the Indians a two-point lead that held up at the end of the first quarter.
Cairo's quickness broke through in the second, however, as the Pilots raced to a 13-2 run, mostly on fast-break opportunities on Indian turnovers.
The Pilots led 34-18 at the half, and Du Quoin came out in the third quarter looking to get the ball inside to Brandon Williams. Williams threw down a two-handed slam then scored another bucket from the post moments later, but the Pilots answered with six straight points of their own.
Up 46-26 headed to the fourth quarter, Cairo may have relaxed a little too much. John Galik's three-pointer with 4:26 to play brought Du Quoin to within eleven at 49-38, and the Indians got as close as nine, but the Pilots were making their free throws and had the game clock on their side.
"Our kids didn't give up in the second half," said Sveda, "they're resilient and came back and kept on fighting. I'm proud of them for that, but we've got to learn to be more patient offensively."
Du Quoin outscored Cairo 19-14 in the fourth quarter, but much like their attempt at a comeback against Murphysboro on Wednesday night, it was too little, too late.
Williams had 14 points to lead the Indians in scoring, Galik added 9 even though he sat on the bench for the entire second quarter and good chunks of the first and third. Austin Mansker and Daulton Beltz each had 6 points, Cayle Diggins 5, Nate Boss 4 and Di. Beltz 3. Cori Williams led Cairo with 18, Childs added 13.
"We're finding some things out, we're throwing some new guys in there and we're going to find the right fit," said Sveda. "We're going to find our chemistry at some point, there's time left in this season. I think all of our main goals are still in tact this year."
"There's still some damage we can do on the conference schedule and we've still got the postseason ahead of us, so we've got to cross that fine line right now, jump the next hurdle and move forward."
The journey forward begins with the Indians' next game at Sparta, Friday night's 8:30 p.m. matchup with Red Bud.
Du Quoin (7-11, 0-2) will then likely participate in either the 5th or 7th place game on Saturday, depending on the outcome of other games at the tournament.
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