Sparta vs. Herrin - DuQuoin "Tip-Off Classic"

Championship

Sparta

Herrin

Sparta (71) - Charles 2 0 0-0 4, Woods 1 0 0-0 2, Hayes 5 1 0-2 13, Monroe 12 0 5-7 29, C. Allard 2 0 2-2 6, Dancy 1 3 0-0 11, G. Allard 0 1 0-0 3, Hernandez 1 0 1-1 3.
2FG-24/3FG-5/FT-8-12/PF-14.

Herrin (58) – Hall 0 0 0-0 0, Ellis 7 1 3-5 20, McKnight 1 0 0-0 2, Hudson 1 0 0-0 2, Dann 0 1 1-2 4, Faulkenberry 7 0 1-2 15, Bearden 1 0 0-0 2, Alexander 2 0 0-0 4, Gwaltney 1 1 2-2 7, Jones 0 0 2-2 2.
2FG-20/3FG-3/FT-9-13/PF-12.

Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.

Sparta wins tournament title
Bulldogs turn Tigers over, roll to championship; Monroe named MVP

12/06/2025
BY JACK BULLOCK
DUQUOIN - For the Sparta Bulldogs, pressure is the name of the game.

It showed this week at the DuQuoin “Tip-Off Classic.”

Coach Jordan Beckley had his team cranking up the heat on opponents and the Herrin Tigers were the ones that got burned on Saturday.

The Bulldogs forced 18-turnovers and went on a 13-4 beginning of the second quarter run.

They kept Herrin from making any sort of a serious comeback, pulling away late for a 71-58 triumph to win the 28th annual event Saturday afternoon.

The victory leaves the Dawgs at 4-0 overall and 3-0 this week at the tip-off.

Sparta outscored three victims by a combined 52-points in the tournament.

Tournament Most Valuable Player Dariontez Monroe lit up the Tigers with 29-points.

The 6-foot junior guard got to the rim for most of his points and finished with 12 field goals, all inside the 3-point arc.

Monroe, who is also the quarterback on the Sparta football squad, received plenty of help as seven other Bulldogs score points in the victory.

While Monroe was doing damage on drives to the basket, teammate freshman Jakhai Dancy got hot from the outside.

The 6-foot freshman nailed down a trio of 3-point shots, two in the second quarter as the Bulldogs got the separation that they needed to take a 30-20 halftime lead.

Sophomore guard DJ Hayes added to the win with 13-points.

“It's our go-to. That's the way we get after it defensively. Coming into today we were averaging 27 or 28 turnovers forced per game,” said Coach Beckley. “Like I said, that's just the way we play. We're undersized so we have to use our quickness to the best of our abilities. Our kids battle.”

Herrin head coach Sayler Shurtz saw their overall mark slip to 3-1 overall with the defeat.

The Tigers were paced by sophomore guard Josh Ellis with 20-points.

Junior guard Jaxton Faulkenberry added 15 for Herrin in the loss and sophomore forward JJ Gwaltney chipped in seven.

Herrin led the game three times in the first quarter before Sparta hit another gear.

Monroe scored three times in the opening period, with a steal and fast break lay in, an inside score posting up and a transition bucket after grabbing a defensive rebound going coast-to-coast for a basket for a 10-7 Sparta lead at the end of the first quarter.

The Bulldogs hit their first four field goal attempts in the second quarter to begin a game-changing run.

Dancy canned his first 3-pointer before feeding senior teammate DeQuan Woods for a fast break after making a steal, which forced a Herrin timeout at 17-9 with 6:49 left in the second frame.

Hayes scored on a drive to in the lane and Hayes scored again on a fast break with an assist coming from Woods after yet another steal.

Ellis tried to keep the Tigers close with seven of his points in the second quarter.

But Monroe added two more scores at the rim, Dancy added his second 3-pointer and junior Tyrell Charles added a score to beat the second quarter horn for a 10-point halftime spread.

“Dariontez (Monroe) is a great athlete and more importantly he's a great kid and the other kids like being around him,” said Coach Beckley. “Our other kids feed off of his energy. It's one thing to have a player of his talent but it's another thing when he plays as hard as he does. DJ (Hayes) and the other guys get after it, too. Jakhai (Dancy) is a special player and is a great athlete and was all-conference in football. Those three guys, their athleticism really shines through.”
(CONTINUED)

The largest lead of the contest came in the third quarter.

Sparta got the third trifecta from Dancy to go with a Hayes long range bomb.

A rebound score from Charles made it 46-29.

Herrin's best run of the game followed.

An 8-0 run with baskets by Ellis and Faulkenberry (2) and free throws by Gwaltney cut the margin to just 46-37 with :46.4 left in the third quarter.

But a Hayes fast break closed the third quarter scoring with the Bulldogs up 11.

Senior Braxton Dann hit a 3-pointer for the Tigers to open the fourth quarter before Sparta extended the lead back to double-digits.

Monroe was fouled on a drive inside and his conventional three-point play started another run.

Senior guard Grant Allard and sophomore Camden Allard picked up some key points for Coach Beckley.

Camden scored on a fast break and Grant canned a 3-point shot from the left corner for a 56-42 lead.

The spread never got under 10 the rest of the way.

Camden Allard added one more basket before both coaches emptied the cupboard in the final minutes.

Sparta capped off their tournament by nailing down 29-of-54 shots from the field with five of the missed shots coming during reserve mop up time in the final two minutes.

Herrin ended up 23-of-48 overall, 3-of-12 from the arc.

The Bulldogs hit 5-of-14 from long range.

Herrin held a 25-19 rebounding edge but they couldn't overcome the turnovers, 10 of which came in the first half as Sparta got the lead for keeps.

Coach Beckley's club has now won back-to-back tournaments with the Chester Invitational Tournament title sitting in the trophy case back in Randolph County.

And for the first time in the program's history, they will compete in the 1A state tournament as their enrollment has fallen to under the 300 cutoff.

Sparta has their sights set on bigger things this season, including a Cahokia Conference Illinois Division championship, an honor they've haven't achieved since they entered the league four seasons ago.

“We're going into 1A instead of 2A for the postseason but the main thing for us is we want to challenge for that conference title. We've been close a few times, finished in second place but we want to put that on the wall, too,” said Coach Beckley.

They will play a non-conference game at home next week against Valmeyer before tackling the meat of their league schedule with games against rivals Carlyle, Wesclin and Okawville with the final two on the road before a post-Christmas excursion to the Pinckneyville “Duster Thomas Classic.”

Herrin has time to regroup following the loss with their next contest at home against SIRR Ohio Division rival Carterville on December 12th.

“We've talked about consistency. We've beaten some good teams in the past couple of years but we haven't been able to consistently do it. We talk about how a great team get a team down and you keep them there. You don't allow them back into the game,” said Coach Beckley. “We let them get back within nine but we want to extend that lead to 20 or 25 if we can.”

MURPHYSBORO 53, DUQUOIN 43
The Red Devils built a big lead and survived a bit of a let down in the fourth quarter to snag the third place win over the host Indians.

Six-seven senior Kemmeon Hale scored 22-points to lead Murphysboro (2-1) to the win.

Senior Myles Guthman and junior Cash Brooks added 11-points each.

Murphy led 47-29 at the end of the third quarter but were outscored 14-6 in the final eight minutes.

DuQuoin (1-2) was topped by sophomore Layton Hawkins with 10-points.

Junior guard Andrew Jones (nine) and junior Bryson McClanahan (eight) pitched in points in the loss.

CHESTER 75, CAIRO 71 (OT)
The Yellow Jackets outlasted the Pilots in extra time behind 21-points from junior Tallen James, 19-points from junior TyShawn Palacio and 18-points from junior Trey McCartney in the high-scoring affair.

Cairo was topped by 21-points each from Rahjon Woodson and Anthony Duncan, Jr.

Chester also finished the week with a 2-1 mark.

SESSER-VALIER 47, CARMI-WHITE COUNTY 43
The Red Devils picked up the win in the seventh place contest with

Banx Laur, a 5-9 sophomore guard, led the Devils with 14-points with senior Trace Payne ending up with 13.

The Bulldogs got 13-points apiece from senior Hayden Sauls and junior Dylan Winerberger.

Seventh Place	1	2	3	4	-	F
Carmi-White County	07	12	14	10	-	43
Sesser-Valier	18	03	18	08	-	47
Carmi-White County (43) - Sauls 1 3 2-5 13, Millhorn 4 0 0-0 8, Winerberger 5 1 0-0 13, Tauiliili 0 0 2-2 2, Bradshaw 2 0 3-5 7, Edwards 0 0 0-0 0. 2FG-12/3FG-4/FT-7-12/PF-15.
Sesser-Valier (47) – Laur 1 4 0-0 14, Williams 0 0 0-0 0, Short 0 2 1-1 7, Packer 2 1 2-4 9, Payne 0 4 1-2 13, Kistner 0 1 1-4 4, Shurtz 0 0 0-0 0, Downey 0 0 0-0 0. 2FG-3/3FG-12/FT-5-11/PF-15.
Fouled Out – Millhorn - Carmi-White County. Technical Fouls – None.
The 28th annual DuQuoin "Tip-Off Classic" all-tournament team consists of – MVP Dariontez Monroe, DJ Hayes and DeQuan Woods of Sparta; JJ Gwaltney and Jaxton Faulkenberry of Herrin; Kemmeon Hale of Murphysboro; Amir Grant of DuQuoin; TaShawn Palacio of Chester; Anthony Duncon, Jr. of Cairo and Tony Kistner of Sesser-Valier.