12/20/2022
BY JACK BULLOCK
DUQUOIN - Everything was going as planned for Anna-Jonesboro in their road contest Tuesday night at DuQuoin heading into the fourth quarter.

Coach Mike Chamness' club had weathered the pressing defensive of the Indians and had shot well from the field to lead 48-37 heading into the final eight minutes.

However the Wildcats eventually wore down and DQ took full advantage with an avalanche of fourth quarter points.

Forcing eight final frame turnovers, with most turning into scores, the hosts rallied for an improbable 66-54 win, outscoring A-J 29-8.

Coach Jason James got 27 points from senior Nishan Woody, with 17 of those coming in the fourth quarter blitz, as DQ improved to 4-5 on the season and evened its SIRR Mississippi Division mark at 1-1.

A-J saw its record dip to 4-8 overall, 0-4 in the league.

Besides Woody DQ got points from eight other players as Coach James used a rotation for 13 kids in a pressing attack that finally took its toll.

Seniors Gage Green, Kameron Hugya and junior Eli Maynor scored nine points each for the Indians.

“We have a lot of athletic kids here at DuQuoin and we will get out and compete, get after people,” said Coach James. “We tried going at them (A-J) to try and wear them down early and it kind of backfired on us when they hit four or five 3's. But I thought at the end of the game they were tired and it showed when they were turning the ball over at the end.”

Anna-Jonesboro was led by junior guard Drew Page with 17 points and senior Dylan Harvel with 13.

Coach Chamness got eight points apiece from juniors Payton Denny and JJ Geradi.

“It snowballed on us. We didn't handle their press very well. They were double and sometimes triple teaming us,” said Coach Chamness. “We just didn't do a good job of 'connecting the dots' by passing to the open guy. We tried to dribble through it (press) too much. That led to transition buckets for them. That's now how you close a game out.”

In spite of all of the turnovers in the game (20 thru three quarters) the Wildcats were in charge by hitting open shots, including eight made 3-pointers in the game with Page hitting five of them.

The Wildcats led for most of the first half, and took a nine point advantage into halftime.

Coach Chamness' club hit 7-of-10 free throws and hit 10-of-15 field goal attempts in the first 16 minutes.

Harvel started the game by hitting a 3-pointer from the left wing while being fouled by DuQuoin's Malik Jones.

The made free throw made it a four-point play for an early lead.

A fast break score by Harvel and 3-pointers by Page staked the Wildcats to a 15-6 advantage.

But a DQ rally with Woody scoring twice inside, a pair of buckets from Green and made free throws from Hugya eventually even things at 16-16 at the end of the first quarter.

Anna-Jonesboro went on its first run of the game in the second quarter to take over.

Senior Dawson Trammel, who ended up with seven points, along with Page, hit 3-pointers in the 14-1 run.

Trammel added another basket on a drive down the baseline and junior Peyton Denny scored on a fast break on a pass from Trammel.

When Page hit 2-of-3 free throws after being fouled on a 3-point attempt, the Wildcats led 30-17 with 2:25 left in the half.

DuQuoin finally got something going in the final minutes of the second quarter with points from Maynor and senior Jakob Eaton.

However another 3-pointer from Page made it 33-24 at the break.

The Wildcats were on the verge of putting the Indians away in the third quarter.

Geradi converted a conventional three-point play to open the second half and Harvel hit a mid-range shot from the right corner.

Woody kept the Indians in it by scoring on a pair of shots; from the right corner and inside the lane.

But when Page and Harvel nailed down consecutive 3-pointers, A-J had a 46-32 lead.

A 3-pointer from Green and a score by sophomore Luke Bauman cut the A-J advantage to 48-37 heading to the final frame.

Maynor got DuQuoin two straight scores in the lane to begin the fourth quarter, one on a rebound of his own missed shot.

Trammel drove the baseline for a basket but was hurt when he came down awkwardly on his right ankle.

That basket was at the 6:29 mark.

A-J wouldn't score again until under a minute to go in the game.

DuQuoin, with their press in high gear, forced the Wildcats into five consecutive turnovers turning them all into points.

Woody scored three consecutive times off of those turnovers, forcing an A-J timeout at 50-47 with 4:56 left.

Hugya nailed down a 3-pointer and Woody scored inside on a pass from Hugya which was quickly followed by a steal and fast break lay in by Jones as the Indians led 54-50.

DuQuoin finished off the game by forcing the Wildcats to begin fouling.

Once the Indians got into the bonus, Woody hit his free throws and he added another steal and score.

By the time Geradi scored in the lane for A-J, there was just :44 left with Anna-Jonesboro down 61-52.

Woody's 7-of-8 from the foul line in the fourth quarter and 1-of-2 from the stripe from Green sealed the 12-point win.

“He (Woody) stepped up big for us. He's been our leader in practice and he goes as hard as he can non-stop. I'm glad for him to have a game like this because it shows hard work pays off,” said Coach James. “He scored for us and knocked down shots from the free throw line. He and Malik Jones trapping and making steals on the press is what we want from our kids. We want to play aggressive basketball.”

A-J was just 3-of-10 from the floor in the fourth quarter as they dropped their fourth conference game of the season.

DuQuoin ended up just 24-of-56 from the field overall, 2-of-8 from the 3-point line.

But they were 10-of-13 in the fourth quarter.

Anna-Jonesboro finished 18-of-35 overall, 8-of-20 from long range, which would be good enough on most nights for a victory.

But the 28 turnovers compared to 16 from DuQuoin was a big difference.

“We controlled most of the game but we let them control the last quarter and that was all they needed,” said Coach Chamness. “I think we settled for some rushed shots and could have maybe attacked the rim. We just have to regroup.”

The Indians only had four of their turnovers in the second half.

Both teams head into the holiday tournament season next week.

The Wildcats are entered at the 58th annual Eldorado Holiday Tournament where they are seeded seventh.

A-J will play Fairfield at 3:15 pm on Monday, December 26.

DuQuoin is seeded third at the Sesser-Valier Holiday Tournament which also starts Monday.

The Tribe will play Elverado at 6:30 pm.

“We're slowly getting better but we have a long way to go,” said Coach James. “We've had a hard time scoring so we got to get out and press to try and generate points. I think pressing and getting to the rim is going to get these guys some easy points.”

Anna-Jonesboro (54) – Hall 1 0 0-1 2, Hodges 0 0 1-2 1, Trammel 2 1 0-0 7, Page 0 5 2-3 17, Denny 3 0 2-2 8, Harvel 2 2 3-3 13, McFadden 0 0 0-0 0, Geradi 2 0 4-5 8, Cavins 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-10, 3FG-8, FT-12-16, PF-19.
DuQuoin (66) – Jones 1 0 0-0 2, Green 4 0 1-2 9, Hugya 1 1 4-4 9, Woody 10 0 7-8 27, Howerton 1 0 1-2 3, Winters 0 0 0-0 0, Maynor 3 1 0-0 9, Johnson 0 0 0-0 0, DeMarie 0 0 0-0 0, Cornett 0 0 2-4 2, Bauman 1 0 1-2 3, Eaton 1 0 0-0 2, Wimington 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-22, 3FG-2, FT-12-22, PF-15.
Fouled Out – Hodges, Harvel - Anna-Jonesboro; Jones - DuQuoin.
Technical Fouls – None.