BASKETBALL: Indians fail to hang with Breese Central
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Du Quoin fought gamely early on, but Breese Central pulled away in the second and third quarters for their twentieth victory of the season on Saturday, a 61-42 win at the Panther Basketball Showcase at Thomas Gymansium in Pinckneyville.
"Give them a lot of credit because they have an awfully good ball club," said Indians head coach Gabe Sveda. "They are very solid defensively, and they do a good job of being patient on offense.
Nick Grapperhaus scored the first eight points for the Cougars on dribble penetration, but three-pointers from J.C. Davis and Connor Wheeler kept the Indians within striking distance in the early going.
Brandon Book had the next eight points for Breese Central, and early in the second quarter Du Quoin trailed 18-11 when Sveda called for a timeout.
Davis trimmed the gap to four with another three-pointer, but the Cougars outscored the Indians 14-6 in the remainder of the half to build a 12-point cushion. Du Quoin shot just 33% (7-for-21) from the floor in the first half while the Cougars were lighting it up for 67% (14-of-21).
Grapperhaus' three-point play in the third quarter gave Breese Central a 43-26 lead, and Du Quoin failed to put much of a run together against the Cougar defense.
Breese Central held Wheeler, the Indians' leading scorer, to just 7 points as the senior faced a size disadvantage much of the night against Keaton Scheer (6'5). DHS's post presence, Sam Gossett, was also held in check by the Cougars and failed to score.
Davis led the Indians with 16 points, John Galik and Brandon Williams had 6, James Williams 5 and Aaron Smith 2. B. Williams had a team-best 8 rebounds and two blocks.
Grapperhaus finished with a game-high 19 points for Breese Central (20-2), Book had 15 to go along with 9 rebounds and a pair of blocked shots.
Du Quoin (17-4) was out-rebounded 29-19 in the game and committed 15 turnovers to the Cougars' 10.
The Indians take on West Frankfort this Tuesday night at DHS.
<u>Indians defeat Sparta for the third time</u>
With Gossett ill and out of the lineup, Wheeler and Davis both poured in 20 points on Friday night to help Du Quoin past Sparta 62-48 in a rematch of last weeks' third place game from the Sparta Mid-Winter Classic.
The Indians struggled offfensively early and trailed 21-16 at the half, but came out firing on all cylinders in the second half with 25 points in the third quarter and another 21 in the fourth.
John Boss added 9 points for DHS, J. Williams 7, Galik 4, B. Williams 2.