Pinckneyville withstood a late Du Quoin rally and picked up an important conference win Friday night in triple overtime 83-79.

The Panthers took control of the game early gabbing a 15-9 lead in the first quarter and a 32-25 halftime advantage.

The Panthers increased their lead to 48-39 in the third quarter by outscoring the Indians 16-14.

However, the power Du Quoin offense got going in the fourth and outscored Pinckneyville 22-13 to force overtime.

Each team scored six point sin the first extra frame and five points in the second.

Pinckneyville pulled out the dramatic win in the third extra session by outscoring Du Quoin 11-7.

With the win, Pinckneyville moved into the top spot of the conference by itself. The loss was Du Quoin’s first of the season.

Drew Dudek scored 23 points to lead Pinckneyville, while Nathan Morton added 17 and Taylor Pyatt finished with 15

 Matt Gossett led Du Quoin with a game-high 30 points.

With the win, Pinckneyville improved to 6-2 on the season and 3-0 in the conference.