BOYS BASKETBALL: Panthers pull away from Indians
Friday night's game between Pinckneyville and Du Quoin was a microcosm of the Indians' season. For the majority of the game, they played well enough defensively to be competitive, but their offense suffered through long droughts that led to a big hole on the scoreboard.
The Panthers came away with a 58-27 victory, their third straight, despite their two leading scorers Sam Simpson and Clayton Houghland putting in just five first-half points.
Picking up the slack offensively for Pinckneyville in the opening 16 minutes of action were their guards, specifically J.C. Moll and Jackson Brand.
Moll had a pair of three-pointers in the first quarter when PCHS raced to a 13-1 lead before DHS's Cole Hopkins beat the buzzer with a runner near the top of the key to cut the lead to 10. Brand had a three ball and another bucket in the second quarter, helping the Panthers take a 23-10 lead into the break.
"We're getting better," said Pinckneyville head coach Bob Waggoner. "I think our team is improving. I think kids are feeling more confident, we're shooting the ball a little better, we're passing it a little better. Our defense created some offense for us tonight by getting in the passing lane and putting some pressure on them to get some transition points. It was just an all-around good ball game for us."
The 23 points allowed in the first half was acceptable for DHS head coach Justin Barrington, but obviously the 10 points scored was not.
"Twenty-three points (allowed) in a half is good enough to be winning," Barrington said. "We've just got to score more than 27 in a game. Hopefully we'll get that figured out. We're going to have to look at some things and maybe do some things a little differently moving forward."
The Panther post players got their game going in the third quarter with Houghland putting in 8 points and Simpson scoring 6. But the biggest difference-maker in the second half was free throw shooting.
"At halftime we said we're going to pound the ball inside and get (Simpson) and (Houghland) going," said Waggoner. "We're going to make them make a decision whether to foul or let them score, and they fouled."
Du Quoin picked up their seventh team foul just past the midway point of the third, allowing the Panthers to shoot free throws the rest of the way. They were up to the challenge, making 10-of-13 at the charity stripe after halftime and 16-of-21 in the game.
"Give them credit, when we put them at the line, they made their free throws," Barrington said. "They defended well and we were one shot and out when we did get a shot. They guard well and they pressure the ball, they forced us to play offense 25 feet from the bucket and we can't do that. We've got to attack the rim, and we didn't do that tonight as well as I'd hoped."
Pinckneyville led 40-22 after the third quarter before outscoring the Indians 18-5 in the fourth when Grant Jausel has all 12 of his points.
Houghland shared the team lead for PCHS, also scoring a dozen. Brand and Simpson each finished with 9 points, Moll had 8, Hayden Carter 5, Caulden Lazenby 2 and Alex Howard 1.
For the Indians, Brock Bullar led the way with 9 points, Caleb Vogel had 6, Jacob Wright 4, Hopkins, Braden Heape and Chad Heatherly each had 2, and Klayton Donoghue and Tucker Kuhnert scored 1 point apiece.
"I thought our kids did the best job they've done this year of following the scouting report on each individually player," said Waggoner. "I thought our team defense was very good tonight. We did a good job of stopping their drives, we rotated well, we didn't give them very many second chance opportunities, we rebounded, and we were pretty good at the line tonight."
<span style="text-decoration: underline;">Pinckneyville 53, Herrin 45 (Saturday):</span>
The Panthers won their fourth game in a row a night after their cross-county battle with Du Quoin, knocking off Herrin 53-45 on the road.
Five different PCHS players had at least 9 points, led by Jausel with 12, all coming on three-point baskets.
Howard added 10 points, Moll, Houghland and Simpson each had 9, and Hayden Carter and Caulden Lazenby both scored 2. Simpson led the team in rebounds with 6, Houghland led assists with 9. Jausel and Simpson each swiped 3 steals from the Tigers.
Pinckneyville (6-2, 2-0) hosts Anna-Jonesboro (5-5, 0-2) on Tuesday night, then will play in the 9th annual Duster Thomas Hoops Classic beginning on December 28 at PCHS.
<span style="text-decoration: underline;">Harrisburg 63, Du Quoin 59 (Saturday):</span>
Jacob Wright scored a game-high 26 points for Du Quoin - 16 of them in the Indians' 25-point fourth quarter - but it still wasn't enough for DHS to come away with a home win over visiting Harrisburg.
The Bulldogs got 19 points from Hunter Smith and 15 from Noah Ferrell in their 63-59 win at Anders Gymnasium.
Vogel backed up Wright's effort with 17 points for the Indians, Hank Stewart added 12 and Heape had 4. Vogel led DHS in rebounds with 7.
Du Quoin (1-7, 0-2) is at Sparta (2-7, 0-2) on Tuesday night before traveling to Pinckneyville next Monday to begin the Duster Thomas Hoops Classic.