BOYS BASKETBALL: Indians' season ends after lead slips away
Du Quoin led by as many as nine points early in the second half, but couldn't prevent Red Bud from making a comeback at the free throw line as the Musketeers eliminated the Indians from the IHSA postseason 48-40 in Monday's Regional quarterfinal matchup in Chester.
Red Bud scored 17 of their 32 second-half points at the charity stripe, making 14-of-20 free throws in the fourth period.
"If someone shoots that many more free throws than you do in a half, it's going to make it tough on you," said DHS head coach Wendell Wheeler. "We didn't shoot as well from the outside as we're capable of. Give Red Bud some credit though, they blocked a lot of shots going near the rim."
"You can't fault our kids' effort, they played really hard and guarded. That's a big team. If we hit two or three more outside shots, or if we're able to drive and get to the line, we win the game and we're talking about what a great effort it was. The ball just didn't bounce that way tonight."
The Musketeers start three players 6'4 or above while the Indians' tallest player to see the floor on Monday night was 6'3 Levi Brening, who led Du Quoin with nine points, all coming in the first half.
Brening's layup with 3:27 to go in the second quarter capped off a 10-0 run by Du Quoin, giving them a 17-9 lead. The Indians led by nine after a deep three by Jarred Thomas near the end of the first half, but Red Bud's Frederick Grohmann cut the lead to 22-16 at the break with a triple in the closing minute.
Free throws from Caleb Vogel and Thomas stretched the lead back to nine for Du Quoin early in the third quarter, and A.J. Smith's three-pointer made it 29-21 Indians with just over ten minutes left in the ball game when the Musketeers came to life.
Cullen Hanger's three with 2:06 to go in the third cut the lead to five, and over the course of the next six minutes, Red Bud would shoot sixteen free throws to help them slip out in front 35-31 as the Indians began to slump offensively. Dylan Roy completed an 18-4 run for the Musketeers with three minutes left in the game to put Red Bud up six.
Thomas hit a three to halve the lead with 2:05 to go, but cramped up moments later hustling for a ball on the defensive end. Vogel also missed some time briefly in the fourth quarter after taking a hard hit under the basket, and Du Quoin's offense struggled to make up for not having two of their best scorers on the floor, not scoring a single point while either player was recovering.
"Those two sophomores have a chance to be very good," said Wheeler, "it hurt to lose them."
Brock Bullar gave the Indians one last hope with a three with 27 seconds to go, but Du Quoin couldn't find the bottom of the net again.
Vogel, Smith and Bullar each finished with eight points for DHS, Thomas added seven points. Roy led Red Bud with fifteen.
Despite a disappointing conclusion, Wheeler was pleased with the improvements his team made over their two-win campaign a season ago. The Indians won eight games with a young, inexperienced lineup that looked a lot like the one that took its' lumps in 2013-14.
"When you're young, you're inconsistent," Wheeler said. "For stretches tonight we were very good, and for stretches we weren't."
"The seniors have done a great job for us, but a lot of times we had a freshman and two sophomores out there. They play hard and they play together, they're just great kids. They're the type of kids that are going to do well. I'm not the least bit disheartened with our guys. The boys have done a lot of good things and I'm very proud to be their coach. I think the world of them."
Red Bud moves on to face top-seeded Pinckneyville in Tuesday night's Regional semifinals at Chester.