 12/17/2025
BY JACK BULLOCK
STEELEVILLE - Offensively on Wednesday night in their Cahokia
Conference Kaskaskia Division at home against Dupo, Steeleville
was a “no-show” for most of the contest.
The Warriors struggles finding
the basket were real, especially in the first half.
Coach Aaron Fiene watched in
dismay his club stood on the dock but couldn't hit the water.
They were just 1-of-10 from the
3-point line in the first two quarters and the one that found
the mark did so in an “excuse me” fashion, banking
home from the top of the circle.
They uncharacteristically committed
12-turnovers, seven in the third quarter when they had chances
to put the game on ice.
For most other teams, the offensive
issues would have led to a league defeat.
But Steeleville is one of the
programs in southern Illinois that “hangs their hats”
on defense.
The defense showed up at the
police station with bail money.
The Warriors forced Dupo into
18-turnovers and held a slight 19-17 rebounding edge in winning
the battle, 42-35 to stay in the Kaskaskia Division race.
A 10-0 beginning of the game
for Steeleville, its best offensive push of the night, held
up as the Tigers never led.
Dupo fell to 4-3 on the season,
3-1 in the league.
Nearly all of the offense for
the Warriors came from a pair of seniors.
Six-three forward Connor Brown
paced the club with 16-points, 10 in the first half, all from
the inside.
Nate Witthoft, a 6-1 guard, added
10 for the Warriors.
Two other players, seniors Parker
Fiene and Colin Vallett, scored five-points each.
“We
guard well, we always guard well. That is something we really
focus on in practice. Fundamental defense and we're really good
at it,” said Coach Fiene. “We didn't shoot the ball
real well tonight but I've always said, a sign of a really good
team is you can win tough games and not shoot well. Everything
looks good and makes coaches look good when the shots are going
in. But you have to do the things when you're not making shots.”
Dupo,
with a new head coach this season and some key veterans who
also had success on the football field, are a much improved
team.
 Deegan
Prater, who was also the football program's starting quarterback,
led the scoring for the Tigers with 11-points.
He was the only player with double-digits
in points.
Senior
Brrayden Esterlein added nine-points for Dupo and head coach
Jason Sashanker.
Although they trailed for the
entire game, the Tigers never quit and cut their deficit to
six with 1:16 remaining.
Steeleville came out with their
best offensive stretch after the opening tap.
Ten consecutive
points came off of three scores in transition and rebounds.
Brown
converted three of the baskets in the run, twice with assists
from Vallett, the last one off of a steal which forced a Dupo
timeout with 4:56 left in the quarter.
But the
Tigers answered with eight-straight points.
Prater
hit his first 3-point shot and score by Esterlein off of an
assist by teammate Tramar Bean made it 10-8.
Witthoft
closed the quarter with a three-point play and 6-3 senior Logan
Bockhorn scored his only basket to close the quarter at 15-8.
After
turning over Dupo six times in the first period, Steeleville
forced five more in the second quarter.
(CONTINUED) |
However
Dupo remained close, thanks to a three-point play by senior reserve
Keith West on a drive to the basket and a score by Esterlein as
the half closed with the Warriors up just 24-17.