12-11-10
BY JACK BULLOCK
HARRISBURG – In a battle of previously unbeaten teams on Saturday – the visitors proved to be rude guests.

Jumping out to a quick early lead – Du Quoin held off every Harrisburg run in the second half to post an impressive 78-68 win over the host Bulldogs at Davenport Gym.

The Indians never trailed in the contest and exploited its inside game with 6-foot-3 junior forward Sam Gossett shaking loose for 26-points as DQ improved to 5-0 on the season with the key non-conference victory over the 6-1 Dawgs.

First year head coach Gabe Sveda saw his veteran backcourt of Connor Wheeler and J.C. Davis control the tempo and eventually the outcome.

Wheeler was second in scoring with 14-points for Du Quoin while Davis added 12.

That trio of Indians connected for 8-of-9 free throws each in the game as Du Quoin hit 27-of-36 free throws against a foul-prone Harrisburg club that was coming off of a big win on Friday night at Massac County.

“We came out tonight with a lot of intensity and the kids played hard. We did a better job of feeding the post tonight,” said Coach Sveda. “We did a better job running our offense and Sam Gossett had a heck of a night in the post. We just need to keep getting better and continue to play together. We are starting to gel a little bit.”

The young Bulldogs fell behind early and could get no closer than 10 points the rest of the contest as head coach Randy Smithpeters' team learned a lesson from a veteran Tribe on Saturday night.

“This is a young team and we learned a lesson tonight because we picked up a big win last night (at Massac County) and we weren't ready to play early tonight,” said Harrisburg head coach Randy Smithpeters. “These kids have to learn to put wins together.”

Capel Henshaw – a 6-foot-3 sophomore guard – led Harrisburg with 21-points while Tyler Smithpeters chipped in 15. Jalen Stewart added 11 for HB.

Harrisburg came out of the gate cold shooting and handing out gifts (turnovers) like they already possessed the Christmas spirit.

The Bulldogs had 11-turnovers in the first half and shot just 7-of-30 in those first two quarters.

Wheeler scored seven points in the opening stanza and his conventional three-point play made it 14-2 which forced a Harrisburg timeout.

Gossett scored eight of his points in the first quarter and his mid-range shot from the left side of the lane pushed the DQ lead to 18-7 late in the first quarter.

A 12-3 run by Du Quoin early in the second quarter gave the Indians breathing room.

Gossett scored six of those points on spin moves in the lane.

His second score in the paint finished the run for a 31-14 lead at the 3:01 mark.

“Our guards came up big for us tonight. They (Davis, Wheeler) are even better kids then they are players,” added Coach Sveda. “Connor and JC are cousins and they love playing basketball together. They work hard. James Williams and Seth Baxter have both done a good job for us and our bench has contributed.”

Harrisburg committed six of its turnovers in the second quarter and headed to the locker room down 37-19 at intermission.

DQ pushed its lead to its pinnacle when Davis drove the lane and was fouled by Hunter Price as he scored on a short bank shot. His made free throw pushed the lead to 46-26 with 4:20 to go in the third quarter.

But suddenly the Bulldogs awoke offensively and began to cut into the Indians advantage.

Henshaw and Smithpeters both hit 3-pointers in a 9-2 run to get the deficit back down to 12-points.

However Du Quoin responded with John Galik – a 6-foot-2 junior guard – receiving a pair of Wheeler assists for easy baskets for a 52-36 lead.

Henshaw hit his only 3-pointer of the contest to close the third quarter at 52-39.

Harrisburg got to within 10-points twice in the fourth quarter but the Indians polished off the hosts by hitting 22-of-28 fourth quarter foul shots to preserve the win.

“We talked about it at halftime because we knew that they (Harrisburg) would make some runs at us and we wanted to minimize those runs as much as possible,” Coach Sveda added. “Our kids showed a lot of poise tonight and we are starting to build some confidence.”

Du Quoin finished the contest 25-of-48 overall and committed just 11 turnovers.

Harrisburg – after its chilly start – ended up a reasonable 25-of-59 overall and held a 37-21 rebounding edge with 21 offensive rebounds. The problem the Bulldogs had was there were far too many offensive rebounding chances in the first half with the poor shooting.

The 21-turnovers – especially early – put Harrisburg in too great of a disadvantage to overcome.

Du Quoin will head back into SIRR Mississippi Division play next Friday when they travel to Carterville while Harrisburg will host Saline County rival Eldorado on Tuesday night.

Du Quoin (78) – Baxter 0 0 0-0 0, Davis 2 0 8-9 12, Smith 3 0 0-2 6, Diggins 0 0 0-0 0, Galik 4 0 0-0 8, Wheeler 3 0 8-9 14, Gossett 9 0 8-9 26, J. Williams 3 1 3-7 12, McDicken 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-24, 3FG-1, FT-27-36, PF-18.
Harrisburg (68) – Rasch 2 0 1-4 5, Smithpeters 3 2 3-4 15, Younger 0 0 0-0 0, Henshaw 6 1 6-7 21, Roper 0 0 0-0 0, Stewart 1 3 0-0 11, Price 2 1 0-0 7, McGowen 0 0 0-0 0, Scott 4 0 1-2 9.
2FG-18, 3FG-7, FT-11-17, PF-28.
Fouled Out – Scott, Stewart - Harrisburg.
Technical Fouls – Baxter - Du Quoin.