BY JACK BULLOCK
OKAWVILLE – The Nashville Hornets had some issues offensively on Thursday night against SIRR Mississippi Division rival Du Quoin in a contest moved up a day because of the impending ice storm that is expected on Friday in southern Illinois.

Coach Brad Weathers, however, had one key determining factor which is what this program is all about.

The Hornets were their usual stingy selves on this night, forcing 20-turnovers in route to an overwhelming 58-40 win that wasn't as close as the final score would indicate.

Du Quoin head coach Justin Barrington saw his teams' overall mark slip to 8-8 overall and 2-3 in the league with the loss in which they trailed 54-28 before outscoring the Hornets' reserves down the stretch to close the final gap.

Nashville (12-5, 3-2) got its typical power performance in the post from 6-foot-6 senior Brogan Kemp.

Kemp topped all point makers in the match up with 19, with most of the baskets coming within five feet of the goal.

He proved to be deadly from both sides of the lane as the senior left-hander showed he could also go to his right.

Teammates Hayden Heggemeier and Ryan Brink tossed home 13 and 11-points each for the Hornets who are trying to keep pace with both Pinckneyville and Carterville in the Mississippi race.

“The thing about Kemp is that he passes the ball so well out of the double-team so it was a pick your poison kind of thing with him,” said Coach Barrington. “When he kicked it out they made shots. He can score with posting up, left shoulder or right shoulder. The good post players do that. He was very effective tonight.”

Nashville had six other players score at least one basket in the game, a balance that kept the Du Quoin defense on its heels.

Coach Barrington was short handed on the night, having lost freshman starter Lamontay Daughtery to a broken ankle suffered Saturday during a win against Massac County.

Daughtery was on the sidelines in a cast as his teammates took the floor on Thursday.

Senior leader Caleb Vogel paced DQ with 12-pointers with 10 of the points coming in the first half as the Indians stayed close to the Hornets.

However he and his teammates were covered up in the third quarter as Nashville forced a 2-of-10 shooting frame and five turnovers as the hosts blitzed the visitors 23-7 to take a commanding advantage.

Senior Braden Heape added eight-points for Du Quoin while the Tribe got seven-points apiece from junior guard Ashton Smith and junior forward Will Woodside.

“Defensively I was pretty happy for most of the night,” said Coach Weathers. “I thought we did a good job of keeping Vogel in check and in the third quarter when we made that run we got several stops.”

Vogel was the one who managed to keep the team close early as the Indians rallied late in the first quarter.

Trying to keep pace with Kemp was tough in the early minutes as the forward scored the Hornets first eight-points.

He put points on the board with a drive in the lane, a score from the blocks and also on a lob pass from junior guard Brandon Schnitker.

When he scored on an assist from sophomore Bryson Bultman, the Hornets forced a Barrington timeout at 8-2 with 3:08 left.

Trailing 11-4, Du Quoin closed the quarter with two more baskets by Vogel and a 3-pointer from the right corner by Heape close the first at 13-11.

Along with the defensive effort by the Hornets came a strong rebounding effort, especially in the second quarter.

Nashville crashed the boards for nine offensive rebounds, including stick backs by Kemp and senior Langdon Briles gave Nashville its first double-digit lead at 24-14.

Vogel closed out his 10-point half with a pair of baskets in the final minute and his shot just inside the foul line closed the scoring at 28-20 at the half.

“We didn't have that many turnovers but in the first half I thought the ones we had were self-inflicted. And there was a stretch there were we could have had better shot selection,” said Coach Weathers. “It was a tough ballgame but it was good to get a conference win.”

A 7-2 beginning of the second half by the Hornets was followed by a 16-2 burst.

Heggemeier hit a pair of 3-pointers in the third and Brink added his third trey of the game in the drama ending run.

Kemp added a pair of free throws and two more baskets in the paint on spin moves from the right blocks.

When Brink closed the run on a fast break lay in after a steal by Heggemeier the lead had reached 49-27 with 1:31 left.

Heggemeier jumped into the air near mid-court to steal an inbounds pass by Du Quoin.

As he was falling down he flipped the ball to Brink who was streaking towards the basket.

A score by freshman Carson Parker on yet another assist by Heggemeier made the lead 51-27 at the end of the third.

After a three-point play by junior Cameron Parker on a reverse lay in and subsequent free throw, Coach Weathers went to his bench for the remainder of the contest.

“We also have to adjust to the fact that we don't have Lamontay out there and he is important to us on both ends of the floor,” said Coach Barrington. “Offensively and defensively he is important. He makes it easy on our players because he can rebound and protect the rim.”

The Du Quoin starters cut into the Hornets' lead but there was little drama left for the outcome.

“We didn't know that the Daugherty kid was hurt until we got here tonight,” said Coach Weathers. “We felt that this is the best Du Quoin team since 2011 and they had some momentum coming into this game. Every win is a good win.”

The Hornets finished 23-of-48 from the floor but they were aided by the offensive board work as they grabbed 12 of their 27-rebounds after their own missed attempts.

Nashville finished with 13-turnovers but four of those were late in the game by the reserves.

Du Quoin hit just 15-of-39 from the floor and just 3-of-9 from the 3-point arc.

Neither team shot the ball well from the foul line, with each of the squads hitting just 7-of-14 from the stripe.

The Hornets are preparing for the Nashville Invitational Tournament that begins on Monday with a game against Mascoutah at 6:30 pm.

The Indians will host Trico on Saturday, weather permitting, before heading to the Okawville Invitational Tournament next week.

“We never got into a good flow tonight offensively. There were times when we would play well in spurts but when it came time to take that next step we would lose the momentum and give up some second chance points,” said Coach Barrington. “We dug ourselves a hole by giving up 10 or 12 offensive rebounds and those are the things we have to clean up. We had been playing pretty well lately but we have to take tonight and adjust some things that they (Nashville) were successful with move forward to the next games.”