BOYS BASKETBALL: Indians earn split on day one of Hoops Classic
Du Quoin took one on the chin in their Monday morning game against tournament-favorite Gibault, but rebounded in the afternoon session with a 55-51 win over Trico to send the Indians into the Silver Pool at the Duster Thomas Hoops Classic on Tuesday, where they can finish as high as fifth or as low as eighth.
"We were 4-for-18 the first half, then we turned around and went 14-for-21 in the second half," said DHS head coach Justin Barrington. "We were turning down get shots to get better shots, and that's a very good sign for us. Sometimes we take a quick shot, but when we're patient we can score. That's one of the things that happened in the second half, we were patient with the basketball and we got good looks in the paint. That's the sign of a team that's starting to grow."
A Brock Bullar three-pointer near the end of the first quarter gave Du Quoin a 6-4 lead, but Trico outscored the Indians 19-8 in the second to go into the break up 23-14.
DHS began chipping away with small spurts of offense in the third quarter. Jacob Wright had two buckets as part of a 6-0 run to cut the lead to four, then a three-point play the old fashioned way by Braden Heape made it 28-25 Trico with 4:33 to go in the period.
Trico was up by five when another 6-0 run by the Indians gave them the lead. Heape had four of those six points, then had two more for the last points of the period to give Du Quoin a 35-34 edge with eight minutes to go.
"Caleb Vogel got a run-out dunk, that got the guys going in the third quarter," Barrington said.
The Pioneers missed four free throws to start the final period, allowing the Indians to pad their lead to seven after a Heape stick-back with 5:35 to play. An 8-0 run moments later by Du Quoin put it out of reach. Wright was 8-for-10 at the foul line in the final frame to help seal the victory.
"Wright stepped up and hit 8 out of 10 in the fourth quarter, that's what you want your point guard to do," said Barrington. "Brock Bullar did a lot of things that don't go into the stat sheet, he got deflections, he seemed like he was always where the ball was. He gave us some really good minutes off the bench in the second half."
Heape was a force on the inside, finishing with game-high 19 points to go along with 5 rebounds for the Indians.
"He finished," Barrington said. "We challenged him at halftime and said 'hey, finish through contact, you're a big, strong kid.' And he did, he took care of us in the second half."
Vogel finished with 15 points, Wright had 14, Bullar 3, Klayton Donoghue 2, and Ashton Smith and Hank Stewart each had 1. Wright led the Indians in rebounding with 7.
Du Quoin (3-8) will take on Roxana on Tuesday at 9 a.m. in Thomas Gymnasium to decide who plays for fifth place at 5:30 p.m. and seventh place at 4:00 p.m.
<span style="text-decoration: underline;">Gibault 76, Du Quoin 40:</span>
With three returning all-tournament team players from last year's Duster Thomas Hoops Classic runner-up team, the Gibault Hawks showed early on why they're one of the favorites to win this year's tournament, routing the Indians 76-40.
"The morning game played with our heads a little bit I think," Barrington said. "Gibault was so long."
Those three all-tourney team players - Trevor Davis, Brian Deterding and Jacob Reuter - combined for 49 of the Hawks' 76 points.
Gibault took command early, leading 12-1 after the first quarter. It was 31-16 at the half, then the Hawks put it away with a 22-11 third period to lead 53-27 heading to the fourth.
Vogel led Du Quoin with 12 points, Heape had 6, Stewart and Tucker Kuhnert each scored 5, Bullar, Smith and Trace Klein all finished with 3 points, Donoghue had 2, and Cole Hopkins scored 1.
Rueter led the Hawks, who later in the day defeated Trico to advance to the Gold/Championship pool, with 19 points.