BASKETBALL: Indians fall to Sparta, but end Herrin's win streak
HERRIN, IL - Every time the Tigers inched close, the Du Quoin Indians had an answer.
Du Quoin outscored Herrin's boys basketball team used a 17-3 run in the fourth quarter to snap the Tigers' five-game win streak with a 62-48 victory in their non-conference clash Saturday night at Memorial Gymnasium.
Du Quoin took a seven-point lead into halftime after Austin Mapps turned a steal into a layup and A.J. Smith hit a baseline jumper at the buzzer to make it 27-20.
Herrin (11-13) quickly pulled to within two at the start of the third quarter on a layup by Jerral Pirtle and a 3-pointer from Justin Lukens, but the cat and mouse game continued and the Indians never trailed in the second half.
Brenden Fred's 3-pointer put the Indians up 33-27 with 3:33 left in the third quarter, only to see the Tigers creep up and pull to within 35-31 on a trey by Lukens at the 2:17 mark of the period.
After two free throws by Du Quoin's Daulton Beltz, the Tigers had multiple chances to pull in front but Austin Butler and Brenden Beasley split free throws before the frame ended, then Herrin missed on a chance to go ahead at the start of the fourth.
Then after two tosses from Butler pulled Herrin to within 41-40 with 4:50 remaining, the Indians took off from there.
Beltz scored three inside buckets and Mapps also contributed in an 11-2 spurt over the next three minutes capped by free throws from Deeja Cole and Fred, a span in which Butler missed two 1-and-1 free throws.
That made it a double-digit margin and Fred nailed six straight free throws to keep the Tigers at bay.
Beltz led the Indians with 18 points, while Fred finished with 16 and Mapps put in 13.
Lukens scored 21 to lead all scorers.
Herrin was coming off a 55-48 win at West Frankfort in which Butler scored a team-high 16 points to lead three Tigers in double figures. Lukens added 15 and Pirtle put in 10. Herrin won despite going 18 of 30 from the foul line to improve to 3-4 in the SIRR Ohio Division.
-Sparta 55, Du Quoin 47
DU QUOIN, IL - Sparta held on for a 55-47 home win over the Indians on Friday night behind 16 points from Aaron Rushing and 15 from Seth Ferguson.
The Bulldogs led the majority of the game, and 23-18 at the half. A Brenden Fred three-pointer, one of three made by the senior on the night, brought Du Quoin to within a point at 28-27 with 4:30 to go in the third quarter, but the Indians couldn't get over the hump.
Sparta led 37-31 at the end of the third and extended their lead to ten by the mid-way point of the fourth period. Both teams suffered through foul trouble and combined for 40 total whistles.
"That's a good ball team, we made too many mistakes to win that game," said DHS head coach Gabe Sveda. "We got in foul trouble, too many silly fouls. They called it tight, and a lot of those were fouls, both teams were in foul trouble."
"We've got to do a better job when we get their best players in that situation of making our run, we didn't do that in the first half. I thought we were a bit sluggish in the first half, we came out with a little more fire in the second half and made a nice run. They answered the run, and that's what good teams do, so give them credit for that."
Fred finished with 24 points for Du Quoin, Cole had 12, Beltz 9 and Mapps 2.
The Indians (10-11) host Carterville this Friday night before traveling to Pinckneyville on Saturday.