Indians come oh so close, but can't get past Anna-Jonesboro
The Du Quoin boys basketball team rallied from a nine-point deficit in the last four minutes on Saturday, but fell one point and 32 seconds short of snapping its six-game losing streak with a 45-42 loss to Anna-Jonesboro, on Senior Night at Anders Gymnasium.
"I told the kids in the locker room that I thought our effort was really good tonight," said Du Quoin Coach Jason James. "I wish we had that effort for the last month and a half. I thought Sani (Dasani Edward) and Wini (Wendell Killian) and Traja (Trajion Smith) did a good job on Blake Pena holding him to four points all on free throws. We just didn't get enough loose balls and boards to win the game."
The starting lineup and first reserves were the seven seniors with Killian, Edward and Kadin Mays at guard and Braeden Pursell and Jacob Green at forward starting and Nathan Riley and Jason Whitfield first off the bench. It wasn't until four minutes left in the first half that a non-senior entered the game.
Du Quoin dropped to 8-19 with its seventh loss in a row while the Wildcats snapped their two-game losing streak to improve to 11-18. The Indians had an off night in the field shooting just .259 overall (15-of-58) and .240 from beyond the arc (6-of-25).
"Right now our shooting tonight has kind of been the norm," James said. "We haven't shot well from the outside. Usually it's been a layup or nothing for us. We've got kids who are spotting up, but not taking the shot looking for the one kid to take the shot. They have to start taking the shot themselves to open things up."
The Indians wind up the regular season with a conference road game against Nashville Friday night. The Hornets are 25-6 and 9-1 in the SIRR Mississippi Division, but are coming off an emotional 44-42 loss to league leader Pinckneyville and two losses in its last three games.
Du Quoin trailed by four at the beginning of the fourth quarter and fell further behind when the Wildcats opened with an 8-2 run to take a nine-point lead with 4:10 remaining.
Pursell got the rally started putting back his own missed shot with 3:21 left. After a free throw by A-J, Green got that point and one more back by making two free throws to cut the lead to six with 2:47 remaining.
Pursell drove the lane and scored to cut it to four with1:58 left and 22 seconds later was fouled and made both to cut the lead to two and Du Quoin took a timeout with 1:36 remaining.
When play resumed the Indians missed a 3-point shot. Pursell then drew another foul, but this time missed his first free throw and made his second to leave the Indians down by one with 32.2 seconds remaining.
With 19.1 seconds left Du Quoin called a timeout to set up the final play, but the original play didn't develop with the Wildcats taking over with its one-point lead intact and 2.6 seconds left on the clock.
"The play was for the point guard to kick it over to the side and then cut to the lane going to the other side," James said. "If we kick it to him we have a screen coming to Pursell, but we kicked it right back out instead of going to him. If we kick it in there we might get free throws or even a basket and a free throw. Then we sent Riley off the back screen on the other side in case the post wasn't there, but we looked for the guard first instead of looking for the post. That happens in the heat of the moment. It's just part of the game."
A-J was fouled with 1.1 seconds remaining and made both free throws for the final margin.
Pursell led the Indians with 16 points and Riley finished with four 3-pointers and 14 points off the bench.
The game was nip-and-tuck for the first two quarters with the Indians taking the early lead on a 3-pointer by Mays to open the game, but the Wildcats holding a four-point lead with 3:09 remaining.
Riley came off the bench to spark the Indians with two 3-pointers, including his last one with 15 seconds left to give the Indians a 15-14 led heading into the second quarter.
Anna-Jonesboro retook the lead and extended it back to four points with 4:08 left in the half, but Riley struck again with his third from beyond the arc to start a 10-4 run that ended with a 3-poiner with 38 seconds left followed by a steal and layup with 18 seconds later by Jake Prather to give the Indians a 25-23 lead at the half.
Du Quoin extended its lead to three when Pursell split a pair of free throws to open the second half and still held that lead with 4:52 left in the quarter, but the Wildcats closed on a 9-2 run to take a four-point lead heading into the fourth quarter.
The night started with the seven senior basketball players, one cheerleader and 12 members of the Du Quoin Pep Band recognized between the JV and the varsity game.
On Friday night, blitzed by 31 points from Carlos Keen, the Indians trailed 16-13 after the first quarter and 34-21 at the half en route to a 65-49 loss to Sparta. Pursell again led the Indians with 16 points with eight points apiece from Mays and Whitfield.
The Indians open the playoffs as the 11th seed at the Murphysboro 2A Regionals next Monday night at 7:30 against sixth-seen Chester (19-10).