After all was said done following eight games played Monday on the opening day of the third annual Duster Thomas Hoops Classic in Pinckneyville, Olney and Du Quoin were the only two undefeated teams left in the two-day tournament.

A late surge by Pinckneyville came up just short in a 57-56 loss to Olney in the Monday night finale of the third annual Duster Thomas Hoops Classic in Pinckneyville.

Trailing by eight points early in the fourth quarter, the Panthers scored on their next seven offensive possessions to tie the game up at 51-51 with 2:40 left to play.

Taylor Pyatt scored seven points during that stretch, while Shay Kellerman added four points.

Unfortunately for Pinckneyville fans, the Panthers couldn’t grab the lead in the final minutes as Olney went on a 6-2 scoring run to ice the win in the final seconds.

A late three-pointer was nailed by Landon Chandler, but Olney just let the time expire as it held on for the one-point win.

The Panthers got off to a good start in the game and held an 11-5 advantage in the first quarter.

Trailing by six, Olney answered with an 8-0 scoring run to take over the lead 13-11.  Pinckneyville reclaimed the lead at the end of the quarter thanks to a 4-0 run.

Kellerman scored six point sin the opening frame, while Nathan Morton added five.

Olney’s Derek VanGundy scored first six points of the second quarter to give his team the lead for good in the first half.

Pinckneyville uncharacteristically turned the ball over is six times in the second quarter as Olney held a 30-25 lead at the intermission.

Morton scored four points in the period to keep his team close.

Olney increased its lead to 10 points twice in the third quarter, but Drew Dudek scored six points in the frame and the Panthers end the quarter with a 4-0 scoring run thanks to a three-point basket by Chandler as time expired. Pinckneyville trailed 43-37 heading into the fourth.

Pinckneyville was in rally mode to start the fourth and the move paid dividends as the Panthers went on a 15-9 scoring run to tie the game up at 51-51.

However, Olney’s Brandon Berry scored the next five points to give control of the game back to his team.

After a layup by Kellerman, Pinckneyville had a couple chances to tie the game, but those chances fell short and Olney escaped with the one-point win.

Kellerman’s 15 points led the Panthers, Morton added 14 and Dudek had 10.

Olney improved to 2-0 in the tournament, while Pinckneyville fell to 1-1 and can do no better than third place.

Matt Gossett scored six of his game total 12 points in the fourth quarter to spark a 12-0 Du Quoin run, to turn a five point advantage into a 17 point lead as the Indians rolled late to defeat Red Bud 64-49 Monday night.

Du Quoin improved to 2-0 in the tournament, while Red Bud fell to 0-2.

Du Quoin’s mixture of size down low and accurate outside shooting gave Red Bud’s zone defense trouble early on.

J.C Davis nailed three three-pointers and had eight points in the opening quarter, while Gossett and Logan Schneider each scored four points in the paint, as Du Quoin ran out to a 18-7 lead.

The Musketeers were three-of-eight form the field and had six turnovers in the opening quarter.

The Tribe built up their lead to 12 points early in the second quarter ,but Red Bud finishes off the half with a 9-1 scoring run to trail by just four points, 26-22 at the intermission.

Kory Liefer scored seven points for Red Bud in the period, while Stefan Gregson added five.

Red Bud tied the game up at 28-28 after a layup by Jake Hoffman with 5:20 to left in the third quarter. However, Du Quoin answered with a quick 5-0 run to reclaim the lead.

The Musketeers battled back to cut the deficit to one point after a layup by Liefer, but the Indians finished off the quarter with a 14-6 run for a 47-38 advantage after three quarters of play.

Davis knocked down three three-pointers in the quarter for Du Quoin, while Liefer nailed two three-pointers and scored 10 points for the Musketeers.

Hoffman scored six early points on a three-point shot and a traditional three-point play to get Red Bud within five points, but Du Quoin responded with 12 unanswered points to pull away for the win.

Davis finished with 17 points to lead Du Quoin, while Gossett and Logan Carson each had 12 and Schneider finished with 10.

Lifer scored a game high 22 points for Red Bud, while Hoffman added 13.

Carterville knocked down eight of 10 shots in the fourth quarter as the team scored on 12 of its 14 possessions in the final eight minutes to pull away with a 62-49 win over Steeleville Monday evening.

With the win, Carterville improved to 1-1 in tournament play, while Steeleville dropped to 0-2.

The Warriors fell behind 15-7 in the first quarter as their shooting touch never heated up, making just three-of-12 shots in the period.

Carterville used a 13-4 run to finish the quarter after falling behind 3-2 to take the eight point lead.

In the second quarter, Steeleville made four of its first six shots and after a three-pointer from Torrie Gerberding, the Warriors trailed only 20-16.

However, Steeleville finished the quarter going 0-for-6 from the field and Carterville wraps up the half with a 4-0 run to keep its eight-point lead, 24-16 at halftime.

The Warriors opened up the second half with an 9-0 run to claim a 25-24 lead, but Carterville countered with a 12-3 run to regain its eight point lead.

Steeleville finished the third quarter with a 5-1 run to cut the deficit to 37-33 heading in to the fourth.

Colin Smith scored seven points in the third, while Andrew Pokrzywinski added six.

The Steeleville offense couldn’t keep up with Carterville in the fourth and couldn’t cut the lead down past six, even though Pokrzywinski scored 10 points in the quarter.

“We came into this tournament playing really well,” said Steeleville coach Gerald Mumbower. “But we haven’t been in-sync all day and our shooting has been terrible. We missed a lot of open shots Carterville out-rebounded us all game and we need to do a better job of scoring in transition.”

Pokrzywinski  finished with  a game high 19 points, while Smith added 13. Sophomore guard Jacob Combs gave the Warriors good minutes off the bench scoring nine points.

Carterville’s Ryan Bonifield led his team with 17 points and 19 rebounds in the win.

Jake Hoffman and Adam Kunkel combined to score 38 points but it was not enough as Benton knocked off Red Bud 64-54 Monday morning in tournament play.

Benton’s size and balanced scoring proved to be too much for the Musketeers in the tournament opener for both squads.

The Musketeers trailed 19-15 at the end of the first quarter and 36-27 at halftime.

Red Bud battled back in the third, outscoring Benton 14-12, but the Ranger outscored the Musketeers 16-13 in the fourth to seal the 10-point win.

Benton had five players score in double figures.

Hoffman and Kunkel each scored 19 to lead the Red Bud offense, while Kory Liefer added 13.

Benton improved to 1-0 and Red Bud dropped to 0-1 in tournament play.

After falling behind 12-9 in the first quarter, Pinckneyville responded by outscoring Steeleville 67-30 the rest of the way for a 76-42 win to kick off the hoops classic Monday morning.

Pinckneyville outscored the Warriors 17-4 in the second quarter to take a 26-16 halftime lead, and it was all Panthers in the second half.

Steeleville was outscored 25-15 in the third and 25-11 in the fourth for the 34-point win.

Pinckneyville junior Kyle Lamb led all scorers with 22 points, while Drew Dudek added 11.

Steeleville’s offense was paced by Colin Smith 11 points and Josh Diercks nine points.

Pinckneyville improved to 1-0 in the tournament, while Steeleville fell to 0-1.

In other action from the morning session, Du Quoin rolled over Lawrenceville 71-31 and Olney topped Carterville 43-40.