DU QUOIN TIP-OFF TOURNAMENT
Carmi-White County tops Indians
Bulldogs grit out 51-45 win over host Du Quoin
Sesser-Valier rallies past Lovejoy
11-28-16
BY JACK BULLOCK
DU QUOIN – On the opening night of the Du Quoin Tip-Off Tournament, the host Indians played like a team that hadn't had much time to practice, due to a lengthy run in the football playoffs (semifinal round) which ended just nine days earlier.

Despite doing a lot of things well on the floor on Monday night DQ made too many costly mistakes, especially late in the game, when they had chances to pull out a victory.

Coach Justin Barrington's team rallied to take a brief lead near the end the third quarter but couldn't sustain the momentum heading into the fourth.

Carmi-White County held off the hosts behind 18-points from senior guard Matt Rice and 6-of-8 free throws in the final 1:49 as a team in the Bulldogs' 51-45 victory at Anders Gym.

This helped to offset a rough offensive showing by CWC as neither team put their best foot forward.

The Indians fell despite 25-points from senior forward Caleb Vogel, with six of the points coming on three slam dunks (two on fast breaks, one on a baseline drive).

“We struggled tonight offensively, we stood around a lot and that is on me. It's my job to get them moving. We will have to work on some things tomorrow,” said Coach Barrington, a Carterville native in his second season as a head coach at DQ. “Give Carmi credit, they played good help-side defense, they were swarming the lane. They hit some 3's and tonight we didn't.”

Both teams combined for 35-turnovers, with CWC committing 19 of them.

However the biggest problem for either team on this night was that Du Quoin was just 15-of-51 overall from the floor (29.4 percent).

The Bulldogs weren't much better, hitting just 16-of-36 overall.

Du Quoin's best play came on the offensive boards, collecting 14 of their 29 rebounds on the offensive end.

CWC jumped out to an early lead, with four different players scoring in a 7-5 first quarter.

Junior forward Travis Black, senior Jake Simon and Rice all scored baskets in the frame while junior Bryce Northcott chipped in 1-of-2 free throws.

The Rice bucket was on an assist from Black after an offensive rebound for a 6-3 advantage in a low scoring stanza which had more turnovers (15) than total points (10).

Carmi-White County took total control at the outset of the second quarter, playing their best basketball of the night.

Coach Kevin Wolff's pack of dogs went on a 9-0 chase, with Rice scoring five of the points on a drive and a 3-pointer from the right wing.

Justin Lamp, a junior guard, also score on a baseline drive for a reverse lay in for a 16-5 spread with 5:16 left in the half.

Du Quoin managed to claw back into the game with Vogel scoring on a drive to the goal and later assisting on a transition basket by senior Brandon Heape.

Carmi-White County could have put some distance between themselves and the Indians but they hit just 3-of-6 from the foul line to close out the half at 19-13 CWC.

Black, who finished with 11-points, hit a pair of 3-pointers to carry Carmi-White County.

He came off of a screen at the top of the circle for the first score and then nailed a shot from the right wing.

They were sandwiched around a pair of inside scores by DQ's Lamontay Daugherty and Vogel.

Daugherty, a 6-foot-6 freshman, was saddled with foul trouble and had only four points before fouling out in the fourth quarter.

The Indians best scoring surge of the night came to close the third period, a 9-0 move that gave the Tribe a 28-27 lead.

Two free throws by junior guard Will Woodside started the run with Vogel hitting a 3-pointer and later scoring on a steal and one-handed jam in transition.

When Heape grabbed an offensive board and stuck home a short shot in the paint, Du Quoin led 28-27 with :32 left in the quarter.

At this point, CWC made a quick turnaround for points on a pair of “and-one's.”

Five-foot-nine senior guard Justice Stubblefield drove the lane and was fouled by Du Quoin senior guard Blaine Brady.

The subsequent free throw by Stubblefield closed the third at 30-28 CWC.

On their first possession of the final frame, the Bulldogs got the ball to Rice in the right corner where he launched a 3-pointer that found the mark.

On the play he was fouled by Daughterty, his fourth, on the play.

Rice canned the charity and suddenly the lead was 34-28.

Du Quoin got close a couple of times late in the game, but never took back the lead.

A free throw by Simon, a 3-pointer from junior guard Bryce Northcott and a drive by Stubblefield pushed the Carmi advantage to 40-33.

During this run, Daughterty was called for a charge, which was his fifth personal foul at the 4:36 mark.

“He (Daugherty) is 14 for another couple of weeks and he showed it tonight. He showed some signs of what he could do but we also knew that this would be a rough week for him,” said Coach Barrington about him playing at the next level.

DQ was just 12-19 from the foul line for the game and they missed six of those free throws in the in the final eight minutes.

Coach Barrington's club pulled to within 45-41 with a 3-pointer by Woodside.

Then Indians had a great chance to pull closer when Simon missed both free throw attempts on a trip to the line.

However the second toss ended up as an offensive rebound by Simon himself.

He eventually got the ball to Stubblefield who was also fouled.

The senior calmly made both shots for a 47-41 lead with 1:49 left.

Vogel scored on baseline drive for a dunk in the final minute but the visitors closed out the victory with 4-of-6 from the stripe.

“I did see some good things tonight. Caleb (Vogel) was attacking the rim. As athletic as he is we need that. Defensively I thought our full-court pressure started to bother them in the second half,” said Coach Barrington. “We just couldn't score in the first half to get into our press.”

Both of the teams head back into play on Wednesday night with Carmi-White County taking on Lovejoy at 6 pm while the hosts play Cairo at 7:30 pm.

1
2
3
4
-
F
Carmi-White County
07
12
11
21
-
51
Du Quoin
05
08
15
17
-
45

Carmi-White County (51)
– Rice 4 2 4-5 18, Stubblefield 2 0 4-5 8, Northcott 0 2 2-4 8, Black 2 2 1-2 11, Simon 1 0 1-3 3, Lamp 1 0 1-2 3, Pollard 0 0 0-0 0, Thompson 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-10, 3FG-6, FT-13-21, PF-20.

Du Quoin (45) – Fornear 0 0 0-0 0, Smith 0 0 1-2 1, Bradley 0 0 0-0 0, Woodside 1 1 2-2 7, Gross 0 0 0-0 0, Vogel 6 2 7-8 25, McBride 0 0 0-2 0, Daugherty 2 0 0-1 4, Heape 3 0 2-8.
2FG-12, 3FG-3, FT-12-19, PF-25.

Fouled Out – Stubblefield - Carmi-White County; Daugherty - Du Quoin.
Technical Fouls – None.

SESSER-VALIER 65, LOVEJOY 57
If you thought the DQ-CWC game was rough to watch, the battle of Red Devils and Wildcats was a cavalcade of mistakes.

The two teams combined for 50-turnovers in a 32-minute contest.

The Red Devils (24-turnovers) managed to win the game on the strength of doing the better job of cleaning up their own messes.

Coach Shane Garner's club outscored Lovejoy 19-4 from the foul line and crushed the Wildcats on the boards; collecting a 34-19 edge while grabbing 14-offensive rebounds.

Subsequently Sesser-Valier took home the win, closing out Lovejoy from the line.

Five-foot-eleven junior guard Lukas Gunter was the star on this night, leading his team through a dark, murky performance.

Gunter netted a career-high 30-points to lead all scorers as he nailed three 3-pointers and was deadly from the foul line (11-of-14).

Teammates sophomore Tyler Winchester and senior Jamie Lance added 14 and 11-points respectively in the triumph to open the S-V campaign.

Lovejoy (0-1) put three players in double-figures on the night, led by Cameron Wallace with 14.

Wallace, a 5-foot-10 junior guard who has started since his freshman season for the Wildcats, could have padded his stats more if he could have hit more from the line (2-of-6).

As a team, the Wildcats hit just 4-of-14 free throw attempts.

Sesser-Valier was 19-of-31 as they got to the line much more often.

Khari Johnson and Jeremiah Perry, both sophomores, chipped in 12 and 10 for Lovejoy.

A 9-2 run in the first quarter from Lovejoy gave the Wildcats an early 15-8 lead.

Wallace scored six of those points.

The Red Devils rallied in the second quarter with their own run, sparked by a pair of Lance scores in the paint and three consecutive Lovejoy turnovers.

The sprint (15-3) was highlighted by a 3-pointer from by junior guard Preston Launius and three in the lane baskets by Lance.

When he grabbed his own offensive board with 1:33 left before halftime, the Devils led 25-18.

Lovejoy, with Wallace and Jackson (3-pointer) scoring five-straight, got the deficit down to just 26-23 at the break.

The Wildcats took two brief leads in the third quarter, with Jackson and Wallace getting points.

When Perry scored on a fast break off of a Jackson rebound and break out, Lovejoy led 35-34.

At this point Gunter gunned his club into high gear.

He hit 1-of-2 from the foul line and then nailed a 3-point bomb from the left corner to give his squad a 38-35 lead heading to the fourth.

In the final eight minutes the Red Devils shot 18-free throws, making 13 of them.
Gunter made 8-of-10 of those tosses to help seal the win.

He also scored on a pair of drives to the basket, with his last one coming at the 2:03 mark to give Sesser-Valier a 60-49 lead, its largest of the night.

The foul line parade took care of the rest of the details, making S-V 1-0 on the year and in the tournament.

Coach Garner's club was just 20-of-51 from the field, 4-of-12 from the 3-point line.

Lovejoy finished 26-of-56 overall and hit just 1-of-9 from the arc.

Despite the turnovers, the young Red Devils team opened the season with a “W.”

Sesser-Valier is now off until Friday night when they will play Cairo at 6 pm.

Lovejoy will play Carmi-White County at 6 pm Wednesday.

1
2
3
4
-
F
Lovejoy
15
08
12
22
-
57
Sesser-Valier
11
15
12
17
-
65

Lovejoy (57)
– Carlisle 1 0 0-1 2, Perry 5 0 0-0 10, Wallace 6 0 2-6 14, Jackson 4 1 1-1 12, Loston 1 0 1-3 3, Lee 3 0 0-0 6, Owens 4 0 0-3 8, Johnson 1 0 0-0 2.
2FG-25, 3FG-1, FT-4-14, PF-23.

Sesser-Valier (45) – J. Gunter 0 0 0-1 0, L. Gunter 4 3 11-14 30, Smith 0 0 1-2 1, Winchester 4 1 3-4 14, Farmer 0 0 0-0 0, Baxter 0 0 2-2 2, Launius 2 0 0-2 4, Boles 1 0 1-2 3, Lance 5 0 1-4 11.
2FG-16, 3FG-4, FT-19-31, PF-17.

Fouled Out – Johnson - Lovejoy.
Technical Fouls – None.