BOYS BASKETBALL: Long droughts cost Indians in pair of losses
Both of Du Quoin's weekend boys basketball games fell under the description of "a tale of two halves." Unfortunately for the Indians, neither contest ended with a victory.
Carterville used a 12-0 run in the third quarter to pull ahead in their 51-40 home win over the Indians on Friday, then Murphysboro used a 16-0 run in the second half of Saturday's game at Du Quoin to extend DHS's losing streak to five games.
On Friday, the Indians trailed by just one point at the half at Carterville, but the Lions held them to just three points in the third quarter while scoring 15 on their end. All of the third quarter damage was done by Taylor Heil and Austin Swalls, who finished with 34 of Carterville's 51 points. Swalls' 15 points all came in the second half, 9 in the fourth quarter.
DHS struggled at the free throw line during the game, converting just 8-of-18 at the charity stripe while the Lions went 16-for-24.
Brock Bullar topped Du Quoin's scorebook with 11 points, Hank Stewart had 7, Braden Heape, Caleb Vogel and Jacob Wright each scored 6, and Tucker Kuhnert finished with 4.
Deja vu truck the Indians 24 hours later. Again, a close game at the half was blown open by a second half spurt from the opposing team.
Vogel buried a three-pointer with 7:18 left in the third quarter to bring the Indians to within one at 18-17, but Du Quoin would go scoreless for the next 10 minutes and 45 seconds. Meanwhile, Murphysboro kept tacking onto their lead, which was 34-17 before a bucket from Kuhnert stopped the bleeding with 4:33 left in the game.
"We had some opportunities to score, missed some shots we normally would make," said DHS head coach Justin Barrington. "They turned their pressure up a little bit and we let them dictate how fast we were playing. Up until that point we were controlling the tempo. Defensively, I was happy with where we were tonight, 44 points, I'll take that every night. We've just got to start putting the basketball in the hoop."
In total, the Indians managed just 9 second half points, missing all three of their free throws.
Stewart and Kuhnert each had 6 points for Du Quoin, Wright had 4, Vogel 3, and Heape and Ryne O'Rourke each scored 2.
Barrington said that, offensive woes aside, he was pleased with the team's effort, particularly on the defensive end of the floor during both of their weekend losses.
"Defensively I think we've built on things during the last week of practice, we've gotten better," said Barrington. "Now we've got to go back to the drawing board on offense and figure out how to get the ball in the hoop a little bit more."
"When the ball doesn't go in the hoop, it's harder to stay patient and stay within yourself. We'll get better with it. I've told the kids we want to play our best basketball in January and February, and hopefully into March."
The Indians (1-5, 0-1) host Pinckneyville on Friday and Harrisburg on Saturday.