BOYS BASKETBALL: Roxana, Unity send Du Quoin home 1-3 at DTHC
Du Quoin had chances in both their Duster Thomas Hoops Classic games on Tuesday, but Roxana dominated the fourth quarter of the Silver Pool semifinal in the morning session, and Unity (Tolono) fought off a late Indians rally in the night session's seventh place game to send DHS home from the tournament 1-3.
"Our guys had a couple chances," said Du Quoin head coach Justin Barrington. "We were down eight (against Unity), it's our fourth game in 36 hours, they could have easily quit but they didn't. They kept battling for us and working and working and working. That's all you can ask for."
The Indians had fallen behind by ten points in the second quarter, but a two-point bucket by Braden Heape and a three from Brock Bullar helped make the deficit more manageable at the break at 28-23.
Du Quoin grabbed a lead shortly after the half, getting a 6-0 run to begin the third quarter that included a pair of baseline hoops from Ashton Smith who came off the bench to score six points for the Indians - all in the third.
"Ashton really gave us a spark off the bench," said Barrington. "He gave a lot of energy and got to some loose balls, and then he capitalized and hit some shots for us as well."
The lead changed hands three more times in the period and the Rockets were up 41-38 at the start of the final quarter. Unity led 45-40 with six minutes to go, but again Du Quoin fought back to take the lead with a 6-0 spurt. Caleb Vogel hit a reverse layup, Jacob Wright put in two on a nice assist from Smith then hit a pair of free throws with 5:08 to play to put the Indians on top 46-45.
But the Rockets regained the lead about a minute later - and kept it. Unity shot 21 free throws in the fourth quarter and 32 in the game while Du Quoin made only 17 trips to the stripe. 13 of Unity's 15 fourth quarter points came from free throws.
The Indians were a solid 8-for-9 at the line in the second half, but couldn't overcome the difference in fourth-quarter attempts.
"At halftime we challenged them, we missed too many free throws in the first half," Barrington said. "In the second half we were 8-for-9 from the line, that shows they were able to step up and hit those free throws for us. (Unity) is a good ball club, they'll probably be in the Sectional up north, and we were right there all the way until the end. I'm pleased with our effort."
Du Quoin held Unity's J.T. Wheeler - the son of former Christopher and University of Illinois star T.J. Wheeler - to just 9 points after the sophomore had scored 58 combined points in the Rockets' first three games of the tournament.
"I thought we did a good job of making him catch the ball further out than he wanted to," said Barrington. "He's a future Division 1 player and I thought we did a pretty good job on him tonight."
"It was good to see the improvement. Our offense is getting better, now we've just got to put a complete game together where our offense and defense are both clicking."
Vogel and Wright both had 14 points to lead DHS in scoring. Heape finished off a strong tournament with 11 points, Smith had 6, Bullar 3, and Tucker Kuhnert and Ryne O'Rourke each finished with 2. Steven Migut scored 16 points off the bench to lead Unity.
The Indians (3-10, 8th at DTHC) are off until Friday, January 8 when they travel to Anna-Jonesboro for a conference matchup with the Wildcats.
Carterville defended their championship at the tournament, defeating Gibault 54-46 in the finals of the Gold Pool.
Roxana 56, Du Quoin 42
All-tournament team selection Trace Gentry scored 22 points for the Shells and Roxana outscored Du Quoin 13-4 in the fourth quarter to win 56-42 and advance into the fifth place game at the Hoops Classic during the morning session.
Gentry finished the event with 76 points in four games, six points shy of the all-time DTHC scoring record.
Hank Stewart's 9 points led Du Quoin, Vogel had 8, Kuhnert 6, Wright 5, Bullar 5, Heape 3, and Smith, Cole Hopkins and Klayton Donoghue each scored 2.