Coach Jeff Bowlby's club was defending well and running its offense.

The Bulldogs also were getting easy looks in transition and were looking at win number 20 on the season.

They were handling everything that the host Lions threw at them and led 27-17 with 2:46 left in the second quarter when everything changed.

After a Carterville timeout, Coach Scott Burzynski's Lions got going and closed the gap heading into halftime with an 8-0 run.

Following the intermission, Carterville got back into the game and, after a closely played third quarter, took command in the final stanza for a 58-54 win in front of a large crowd at home.

“This is a big win. This is one that we knew after playing well last night at Du Quoin (49-34 win) set the tone that our kids knew that they could compete. We didn't know if we could win but we knew that we were going to try to put ourselves in position for an opportunity to win and I thought we did that,” said Coach Burzynski. “I thought we did that by just 'hanging around' being down four or six but we just 'gutted it' out.”

The Lions pressure forced 17-turnovers by Sparta and triggered the comeback.

“We didn't do a very good job of handling that pressure. I tried two or three different people at that guard spot and finally I had to bring Phil (Lockhart) back to handle the ball,” said Coach Bowlby. “We just didn't handle the ball. We've got to handle the pressure better than that.”

Carterville closed the game out with a 10-0 to get a 53-44 lead with 2:19 left.

The Lions got a team best 17-points from junior guard Michael Aschemann in the win.

He scored five of the points in that 10-0 sprint and his conventional three-point play on a drive to the basket helped seal the win.

Carterville also got nine points each from Lucas Hunter and Matt Galik in the triumph while Travis Kidd added seven.

Kidd nailed a big 3-point shot to begin that 10-0 run and was part of the foul shooting parade that help preserve the victory.

“That was a big three in the corner from Travis (Kidd) and we have been talking to him. The last three or four games teams have been laying off of him and he has to look to be a threat for us. He hit a big three. I was on the baseline when he let it go and it looked good when he let it go. I was happy for him. He has struggled a little bit offensively and that was a big shot.”

Carterville hit 6-of-9 charities in the final 3:30 for the win.

Coach Burzynski saw his team win its second straight conference game to improve to 13-11 overall and 4-5 in the league.

Sparta is now 19-8 as they fell to 6-3 in league play.

The Bulldogs wasted a very nice game by 6-foot-7 senior Aaron Rushing, who netted 15-points and grabbed 12-rebounds for Sparta.

Six-foot-five senior forward Christian Jackson netted 20-points to top all scorers for the Bulldogs while Phil Lockhart added 15.

Sparta began the contest looking like a 19-game winner, jumping out to an early lead.

Jackson scored six of his points in that opening quarter taking a pair of nice passes from Lockhart on drives to the basket for his final four points of the frame as Sparta led 18-11 after one.

Rushing also got involved early, scoring a pair of shots in the first eight minutes and grabbed five of his rebounds.

Lockhart nailed a 3-point bomb to open the second quarter and back-to-back fast break buckets by Jackson gave Sparta the previously mentioned 27-17 spread.

“We knew that we had to get back on defense because they (Sparta) got a couple of fast breaks on us,” Coach Burzynski added. “During that timeout the kids were saying 'that was our fault, we've got to get back' and we talked about that today in our scouting report that we knew that we had to get back. I thought we adjusted after they got those two lay ups.”

Carterville got going after the timeout.

Galik converted a three-point play while being fouled by Jackson and his made free throw cut the Sparta lead to just 27-24.

Moments later on the other end of the floor, Galik collided with teammate Blake Watson and suffered an injury to his mouth and had to leave the game.

Galik is going to require oral surgery to replace three teeth. Watson needed three staples to close a cut on his head.

This collision halted play for several minutes as the blood had to be cleaned.

After a third quarter in which neither team could make a big run, Rushing closed the quarter with a nice spin move for a 42-41 Sparta lead.

Coach Bowlby's team could have salted away this game by being more effective from the foul line.

The Bulldogs finished just 11-of-21 from the stripe while Carterville converted 17-of-25.

The good news was that Sparta shot the ball very well from the floor, connecting on 20-of-34 shots overall, most coming on the inside by Jackson and Rushing.

The Bulldogs also controlled the rebounding stats, out-boarding the Lions 28-19.

“We had to guard two really big guys (Jackson and Rushing) and Lockhart is a handful and down the stretch I thought we did (guard them). We made some plays, rebounded and got a great win,” added Coach Burzynski.

However the foul shooting and the turnovers helped offset their clear shooting advantage.

Seven of those miscues came in the second quarter which allowed Carterville back into the game.

The Lions trapping pressure caused Sparta trouble for most of the contest.

“When we did break their pressure, we just stood around on offense and we just didn't play the same way as we have been playing the last seven or eight games,” added Coach Bowlby. “And we didn't shoot the ball well from the foul line (11-of-21) and you are not going to win games on the road shooting like that. It just wasn't a very good outing for our ballclub.”

Carterville will host Vienna next Tuesday while Sparta will welcome 1A powerhouse Okawville the same night.

Sparta (54) – Clay 0 0 0-0 0, Austin 1 0 0-0 2, Jackson 8 0 4-9 20, Ferguson 1 1 0-0 5, Lackhart 2 2 2-4 12, Rushing 5 0 5-8 15, Wilson 0 0 0-0 0, Harris 0 0 0-0 0. 2FG-17, 3FG-3, FT-11-21, PF-20.
Carterville (67) – Watson 1 1 1-2 6, Aschermann 5 0 7-11 17, Hunter 1 1 4-6 9, M. Galik 3 0 3-3 9, Kidd 1 1 2-3 7, Bigelow 3 0 0-0 6, W. Galik 0 0 0-0 0, Horn 1 0 0-0 2. 2FG-16, 3FG-3, FT-17-25, PF-18.
Fouled Out – Clay - Sparta.
Technical Fouls – Sparta Bench.