BASKETBALL: Indians fight off Wildcats 56-47

DU QUOIN, IL - Du Quoin got off to a slow start in Friday's home game with Anna, but played well enough in stretches to hold off the Wildcats 56-47 in the first SIRR Mississippi Division game for both squads.

Brenden Fred led three Indians in double figures with 19 points, 14 coming in the fourth quarter where he was 7-for-8 at the free throw line in the final minute.

Anna-Jonesoro had the edge in the opening quarter, however, holding Du Quoin to a free throw by Daulton Beltz, a three-pointer by Austin Mapps, and a lay-up by Austin Mansker before rattling off seven straight points to end the period up 11-6.

"We came out a little bit flat I thought in the first quarter," said DHS head coach Gabe Sveda. "We didn't hit our shots early in the game and we kind of got down, and you can't do that. There's not enough time in a varsity basketball game. Credit A-J for that, they knew what we were doing, they scouted us well."

After some fine-tuning to the offense, the Indians started to heat up in the second quarter. Beltz hit a three to tie the game at 16-16 midway through the period, but it was a 7-0 spurt to finish the half that gave Du Quoin their 25-21 lead at the break.

"We made some adjustments, we found some openings in their defense," Sveda said. "I also thought we sped up our defense in the second quarter and got some steals. We pressured the ball a little bit better, did a better job of pressuring on the ball screens. That was probably the difference in the ball game."

After a back-and-fourth third quarter, Fred scored seven straight Du Quoin points including a three-pointer, part of a 13-2 run for the Indians. A-J got as close as six in the fourth, but Du Quoin started hitting their free throws after missing the front end of a pair of one-and-one opportunities.

"Offensively we didn't do a good job in the first half of running our sets," Sveda said, "finding the right man, making the extra pass, making a hard cut. Those things I thought we did a better job of in the second half. Late in the game I thought we did a much better job of taking care of the ball."

Mansker finished with 13 points, Beltz was one behind him with 12. Deeja Cole had 7 points for Du Quoin coming off the bench, Mapps had 3, Daulton Donoghue 2.

Du Quoin (3-1, 1-0) travels to Sparta on Friday before a trip to top-ranked Harrisburg on Saturday. A-J picked up their first win of the season on Saturday against Cobden.