BOYS BASKETBALL: Indians get early Christmas gift at Sparta

Christmas came three days early for the Indians on Tuesday night at Sparta. With an odd assist to the Bulldogs, Du Quoin snapped a seven-game losing streak with a 59-58 victory, their first conference road win since the 2012-13 season.

The Bulldogs were clinging to a one point lead with the basketball coming out of a timeout when Sparta's Gabe Yearian mistakenly shot a lay-up into the Indians' goal to give Du Quoin the lead.

Then, Sparta's Alyze Nesbitt was whistled for a charge drawn by Du Quoin's Cole Hopkins, leading to free throws for Jacob Wright moments later. Wright made one of two to increase the lead to a pair before Nesbitt tied it with a bucket with just 8 seconds remaining.

"When (Yearian's mistake) went in, I was looking around because there was a timeout called, and I was afraid they weren't counting the bucket for us, but they did," said Du Quoin head coach Justin Barrington. "Cole Hopkins got a big player control foul for us on the defensive end. When they tied it, we didn't want to call timeout and let their defense get set."

Caleb Vogel, who led the Indians with 20 points and 7 rebounds, would up with the ball as time ticked down and was hacked, sending him to the line with just one second remaining. He made the first free throw to put DHS up a point, then missed the second intentionally, and Sparta didn't have time to get a shot off.

"(Vogel) played really well Saturday night for us, and he played well again tonight," Barrington said. "He's been a lot more assertive the last couple games on offense, wanting the ball, and we've done a better job of getting him the ball in spots where he can score. He hit a couple threes tonight, and that just makes him even more dangerous to defend."

Braden Heape (14 points) and Wright (11) joined Vogel in double figures for the Indians.

"Braden came off the bench and did a great job tonight," Barrington said. "He scored in ever quarter, and that's something you want out of guys. He rebounded the ball well, got a couple of deflections that led to turnovers for us on the defensive end."

"Jacob Wright handled their pressure all night for us, had 11 points and set other guys up, kept us moving in our offense. He did a good job again tonight as well."

Tucker Kuhnert finished with 6 points and 6 rebounds, Hank Stewart had 5 points and 4 assists, Bullar finished with 3 points.

"It's always good to get a win, and it was big for our kids to get that first conference road win (since 2013)," said Barrington. "That was something we wanted to end as soon as we could, and we got that out of the way tonight. Now we're looking forward to getting ready for the Duster Thomas tournament."

Du Quoin led by as many as 7 points in the first half after three-pointers from Brock Bullar and Braden Heape to start the second quarter made it 16-9, but Sparta rallied back to take a 28-25 lead into the break.

The Indians (2-7, 1-2) begin play in the Duster Thomas Hoops Classic in Pinckneyville on Monday at 9 a.m. against Gibault (7-2), one of the tournament favorites.