BOYS BASKETBALL: Indians drop heartbreaker to Carmi
Carmi-White County gave Du Quoin two chances to take the lead in the final 15 seconds of the game on Wednesday night, but a runner in the lane and a step-back three-pointer by Jacob Wright were both off the mark and the Bulldogs held on for a 61-60 victory at Anders Gymnasium on day two of the Tip-Off Classic.
The Indians rallied from seven points down with two and a half minutes to play to take the lead on a three by Brock Bullar with 15.5 seconds to go, but a loose ball foul on that same play led to Carmi free throws at the other end. Tucker Gray sank them both for what were the game's final points.
"The kids battled the whole time," said DHS head coach Justin Barrington. "We got a couple of looks late. Brock Bullar hit a big three for us and then there was a rugby scrum under the bucket that led a foul. You've got to give Tucker Gray from Carmi some credit. The gym was going crazy and he stepped up and hit two big free throws for them."
After a stalemate first quarter had the two teams tied at 14-14, Bulldogs Matt Rice and Zach Vaught hit back-to-back three-pointers to start the second period. After a timeout, Du Quoin answered with back-to-back threes of their own, both coming from Wright.
A pair of layups by Caleb Vogel gave the Indians a two-point edge midway through the period, but the Du Quoin offense went cold for the rest of the half. Carmi closed out the final 3:42 of the second quarter with an 11-0 run to take a 33-24 lead into the break.
The Bulldogs pushed their lead to eleven with 2:30 remaining in the third before Bullar buried two triples to make it a five-point game entering the final eight minutes of action.
Carmi-White County was up seven with 4:09 to play, but DHS wouldn't go down without a fight. After not taking a free throw in the entire first half and just two in the third quarter, the Indians made 6-of-8 there in the final 2:22 of the game. The Bulldogs shot 25 free throws, making 13 of them.
"We tell our guys we want to make more free throws that the other team takes, and they did that to us tonight," Barrington said. "We've got to get back to attacking the rim a little bit harder, but I'm very pleased with our effort. The result wasn't what we were hoping for, but we've got to be ready to go Friday."
After Hank Stewart made one of two with 28.6 to go to cut the lead to two, the Indians got a tie-up for a jump ball and took possession on the alternating arrow. Bullar shot faked a defender then pumped in his fourth trey of the night, sending the Du Quoin bench and the crowd into a frenzy. But as Bullar's three dropped through the net with 15.5 seconds to play to put the Indians up 60-59, the whistle blew and a loose ball foul was called on Du Quoin, sending Carmi's Gray to the line.
Gray sank both freebies, Wright missed a runner, Carmi's Tyler Barbre couldn't convert on either of his two free throws with 8.1 to play, and then Wright got a good look at a three that just didn't fall.
"I'm not disappointed with our guys' energy and effort," said Barrington. "We were down seven with two and a half minutes left, and we battled until the buzzer."
Wright topped Du Quoin in scoring with 16 points, Bullar had 13, Vogel 8, Stewart 7, Tucker Kuhnert and Braden Heape each scored 5, Ryne O'Rourke 4 and Hunter Behm 2. Gray led the Bulldogs with 18 points, 11 of them coming at the free throw line.
DHS (1-1) will take on Cairo on Friday night at 7:30 p.m., then Sesser-Valier on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. in the tournament finale.