BOYS BASKETBALL: Indians get record-setting win No. 201 for Wheeler
History was made late Wednesday night in Fulton Gymnasium at Sparta High School, as Du Quoin coach Wendell Wheeler's Indians got him victory #201 in his career, which places Wheeler on top of the list of the winningest coaches in DHS boys basketball history.
Wheeler passed Ray Saunches, who had a record of 200-153 between 1963 and 1977, for the honor. Du Quoin defeated Steeleville 50-48 to improved to 1-1 at the 51st Annual Sparta Mid-Winter Classic.
"I got to play for Coach Saunches when I was in high school before my family moved," said Wheeler. "It just means a lot to be included with him and guys like Roger Craft, I don't take something like that lightly."
Du Quoin had the lead most of the night, 17-11 after one quarter, 26-21 at the half, and 37-28 heading into the fourth period. To that point, it was Brock Bullar (nine points through three quarters) and Jarred Thomas (eight points through three quarters) leading the charge, and Du Quoin's defense limited the Warriors to just seven points in the third quarter.
The Indians were up 41-31 when the tide started to turn with about seven minutes to go in the ball game.
Steeleville's Reid Frederking hit a three with 7:07 on the clock, and after the Indians missed a chance at a lay-up and a stick-back with five minutes left, Dusty Sutton hit one of his four three-pointers to bring the Warriors to within six at 44-38.
Sutton would add another, this time from a few steps behind the three-point arc, with just under three minutes to go as the Warriors took advantage of an offensive rebound on a missed free throw. Steeleville made good on several second-chance opportunities in the period.
"They took a lot of long shots, which led to a lot of long boards," said Wheeler. "We've got to do a better job, and we did later on, of boxing out."
Moments later, Du Quoin turned the ball over, and Kasey Wilson tied the game at 46-46 with a runner in the lane with 2:20 to play.
The Indians, however, would respond. Nolan Showalter drove the baseline for a layup with 2:01 to go, and Thomas hit a pair of free throws with 55.7 seconds remaining to give DHS a four-point edge.
"We kept fighting," said Wheeler. "(Sutton) just daggered us with some of those threes, and he shot a lot of them from twenty-five feet, he was out there, you have to give him credit. When they scored, they earned their buckets."
Free throws from Parker Lutz brought Steeleville back to within two after Caleb Vogel missed the front end of a one-and-one free throw opportunity for Du Quoin. A.J Smith did the same with 11.4 seconds to go, which gave the Warriors a chance to tie or win with a three coming out of a timeout with exactly seven seconds remaining.
Steeleville's Nic Hagel would be the one to take the final shot, rising for three from the corner, but Vogel got his hands up and deflected the attempt off the mark, and time expired.
"When they tied it, we came back and executed, got the lead back, got a stop, then got the big stop at the end," said Wheeler. "That block by Vogel was huge."
"Steeleville played well tonight. We beat a team that was playing well, and that's all we can ask for. I think the big thing is the way we bounced back from the performance last night. I was really proud of the energy and the effort. Mistakes will happen, it's how you react to them. Tonight we reacted by executing and getting a nice shot when we needed it."
Bullar led the Indians with 13 points, Thomas had 10, Showalter 9, Vogel 8, Tucker Kuhnert 6, and Smith and Levi Brening each had 2.
Du Quoin (8-11, 1-1 at Sparta) will meet Murphysboro on Thursday night at 7:00 p.m. at Sparta. The Indians need a win, plus a Murphysboro win over Waterloo on Friday, to have any hopes of playing in the championship game on Saturday.