After taking third place the past two years, Du Quoin was able to take the top prize of the 46th annual Sparta Mid-Winter Classic with a 57-45 win over Sparta in the championship game Saturday night.
Du Quoin was able to use its strength inside to limit Sparta’s offense as the Indians outscored the Bulldogs in every quarter en route to the 12-point win.
“Du Quoin’s strength really bothered us at the rim,” said Sparta coach Rich Williams. “We had a cold shooting night, but you have to give the Du Quoin defense credit. We couldn’t hit the outside shot, so they really packed inside on us and made it difficult to take the ball to the hoop. Overall, we are pleased to have played in the championship game of our tournament, but of course we would have liked to won it.
But there is one more championship to win at the end of February and that is what our focus is now. The tournament was balanced and my assistant coaches Jeff Bowlby, Jon Norton, Mitch North, Tommy Craig and Tim Baum did a great job of scouting and helping out with the tournament in general. We are also very pleased with the crowd support we got Friday and Saturday night especially. The Bulldog Nation really came out in force.”
The start of the game was not what coach Williams envisioned as his Bulldogs turned the ball over five times on their first seven offensive possessions and fell behind 6-0.
Sparta was just 3-of-9 from the field in the first quarter and turned the ball over seven times as Du Quoin led 12-8 going into the second period.
Du Quoin used an 11-1 scoring run early in the second quarter to push its advantage up to 11 points, 20-9, but the Bulldogs stayed in the game with a 7-2 run to end the half down just six points, 22-16. Five different players scored for Sparta in the second quarter.
Sparta’s offense continued to struggle finding any consistency as the team went 3-of-10 from the floor and were outscored 14-9 to trail 36-25 heading into the fourth.
Dartanus White, who Du Quoin had kept in check for the first three quarters, was able to make some noise in the fourth as he scored 13 points to bring his team to within eight points, but that would be as close as the Dawgs would come as the Indians went 15-of-19 from the foul line in the quarter to pull away for the 12-point win.
Matt Gossett led Du Quoin with 16 points, while Jamor Reed and Logan Schneider each had 11 in the win.
White finished with 15 to lead Sparta, while David Sams had eight.
Being selected to the all-tournament second team were Nick Bretwisch of Waterloo, Tyler Sonsoucie of Lebanon, Maurice Austin of Sparta, Andrew Pokrzywinski of Steeleville and Tanner Hall of Columbia. The first team all-tournament squad consisted of Jake Hoffman of Red Bud, Logan Thies of Trico, Jamor Reed of Du Quoin, Dartanus White of Sparta and Matt Gossett of Du Quoin.
The Sparta cheerleaders won their second consecutive tournament title Saturday night.
In other tournament action:
Columbia 55
Red Bud 48
Columbia used a big third quarter to top Red Bud 55-48 to win third place in the Sparta Tournament Saturday night.
After falling behind 26-21 at halftime, Columbia outscored Red Bud 18-4 in the third period to take the lead for good.
The Musketeers started the game on fire, making five of their first six shots to jump out to a 12-4 lead.
Adam Kunkel scored six points in the opening frame and teammate Jake Hoffman had five as Red Bud led 16-11.
The Musketeers began the second quarter with an 8-2 scoring run to grab an 11-point lead, 24-13, but Columbia fought back to finish the half with its own 8-2 run to trail only 26-21 at the break.
Everything fell apart for the Musketeers in the third quarter. Red Bud made just 1-of-9 shots from the field, while Columbia made 7-of-11 to outscore the Musketeers 18-4 for a 39-30 lead heading into the fourth.
Tanner Hall scored 11 points in the third quarter to lead the Columbia attack including the final eight consecutive points.
Red Bud fought back in the fourth quarter as Kunkel and Hoffman each scored eight points in the quarter.
The Musketeers cut the deficit to three points after a three-pointer from Hoffman with a minute to play, but Columbia scored the final four points of the game to ice the victory.
Kunkel finished with a game-high 21 points, while Hoffman had 15.
Hall had 15 points to lead Columbia, while Bryce Bastien added 14 and Wilson Baab finished with 10.
Columbia finished the tournament with a 3-1 record, while Red Bud went 1-3.
Trico 71
Steeleville 55
After falling behind 14-8 in the first quarter, Trico regrouped to outscore Steeleville in each of the remaining three quarters for a 71-55 win to take seventh place in the Sparta Tournament Saturday.
The Pioneers outscored the Warriors 16-13 in the second, 25-7 in the third and 22-21 in the fourth for the 16-point win.
Logan Thies led Trico with 25 points, while Jesse Smith added 13 and Dylan Witthoft had 12.
Andrew Pokrzywinski led Steeleville with 20 points, while Colin Smith had 14 and Coire Reel added 13.
Trico finished tournament play with a 2-2 record, while Steeleville went 0-4.
Sparta 57
Trico 50
In the final game of pool play, Sparta used its senior leadership to edge Trico 57-50 Friday night.
“We have six seniors on this team and they all contribute, even Detrick Woods who is out with an injury,” said Sparta coach Rich Williams. “They all played well tonight and Detrick plays a big role in the locker room. Playing against a team that has just one senior, our seniors really made the difference tonight especially Dartanus White and Maurice Austin in the fourth quarter.”
White and Austin combined to score 14 points in the decisive fourth quarter as the Bulldogs were able to hold off any late rally from Trico.
“Maurice has played really well these past three weeks,” said Williams. “He has elevated his play to another level. He is our captain for a reason and our leader. Dartanus will always get his points because he is so quick off the dribble and athletic. Tonight those two stepped up and sealed the win for us.”
In the fourth quarter, fellow seniors David Sams and Blake Shelton also scored as Sparta outscored Trico 17-12 in the period for the seven-point win. Tyler Kiefer also found his way into the scorebook with a key basket in the middle of the game.
It was Sparta’s defense that set the tone early in the contest. The Bulldogs forced Trico into 10 turnovers as they outscored the Pioneers 16-9 in the opening period.
Austin scored seven points in the first quarter to lead the offense in which five different players scored.
Chase Heins was Trico’s main offense force in the first quarter scoring six points.
Both teams scored 11 points in the second quarter as Sparta held onto its seven-point lead, 27-20 at halftime.
Logan Thies led the Trico attack with six points, while London Oliver had five points off the bench.
But the bigger story of the second quarter was that Sparta played even with Trico even though White sat on the bench for the entire quarter after picking up two fouls in the first.
Trico began its rally in the third quarter outscoring Sparta 18-13 to trail 40-38 heading into the fourth.
The Pioneers made 7-of-14 shots from the floor while holding Sparta to just 6-of-14. Heins and Jesse Smith each had six points in the third for the Pioneers, while Thies added four. White led the Sparta attack with four points in the quarter.
A 4-2 run early in the fourth quarter by Trico after two baskets from Heins tied up the game at 42-42.
However, that would be as close as Trico would get the rest of the way. Sparta scored the next seven points, five coming from Austin, to take control of the game for good.
Austin finished with 16 points, while White had 12. Heins finished with 21 to lead the Trico attack, while Thies had 14 and Dylan Witthoft added eight in the loss.
With the win, Sparta won Poll A with a 3-0 record and advanced to take on the winner of Pool B Du Quoin.
With Trico’s loss, there was a three-way tie for second place in Poll A with Trico, Waterloo and Red Bud all having 1-2 records.
The tiebreaker used was free throw percentage. Red Bud made 70 percent of its free throws, while Waterloo made 69 percent and Trico made 58 percent.
With the tiebreaker Red Bud advanced to the third place game against Columbia, Waterloo moved on to face Lebanon for fifth place and Trico faced Steeleville for seventh.
Red Bud 67
Waterloo 55
Red Bud notched its first win of the tournament Friday evening with a 67-55 victory over Waterloo to end pool play with a 1-2 record.
While the Musketeers did not know it at the time, but the win over Waterloo, who defeated Trico the night before, and their good free throw shooting throughout the tournament would be good enough to advance to the third place game on Saturday, because of a three-way tie for second place in Pool A.
Red Bud used a balanced scoring attack with four players scoring in double figures to get  past a tough and physical Waterloo squad.
“We had a pretty good shooting night and all of the players stepped up and scored,” said Red Bud coach David Gillingham. “We couldn’t pull away as Waterloo kept fighting us all the way and you have to give them credit. In close games, there is a lot of pressure on these kids down the stretch and fortunately we made the free throws to seal the win.”
Red Bud missed its first five shots of the game as the team found itself down 5-0 early. However, it didn’t take long for the Musketeers to heat up as they made eight of their next nine shots to spark a 14-3 run to end the quarter with a 17-10 advantage. Waterloo was just 4-of-13 from the field in the opening quarter.
Red Bud senior Stefan Gregson made two three-pointers to ignite the Musketeer attack in the first quarter, while juniors Adam Kunkel and Jake Hoffman each had five points.
Red Bud pushed its lead up to nine points early in the second quarter after a bucket by Kory Liefer. But the Musketeers cooled off a little in the period making just 2-of-7 the rest of the way which allowed Waterloo back in the game.
Waterloo’s Nick Bretwisch nailed two three-pointers at the end of the half to get his team within three points, 28-25 at the break.
Liefer and Hoffman each had four points to pace the Red Bud offense in the second quarter, while Bretwisch tossed in eight points for the Bulldogs.
The Musketeers got a huge spark off the bench from Tyler Magruder as the 5’8 junior scored eight points in the third quarter which included two three-pointers.
“Tyler is a good spark for this team,” said Gillingham. “He is a good shooter and just a menace on defense for opposing teams. Kids feed off his hard work out there.”
Magruder’s third quarter performance along with seven points from Kunkel helped Red Bud push its lead up to 15 points. But Waterloo once again responded, this time with a 7-0 run to end the quarter down just eight points, 47-39.
Bretwisch tossed in eight points in the third including five during the late 7-0 run to keep his squad in the game.
The Musketeers opened the fourth quarter with a 9-2 scoring run to increase their lead to 15 points, 56-41.
Waterloo answered with an 11-4 run to cut the deficit to eight points, 60-52, but that would be as close as the team would come as Red Bud ended the game with a 7-3 run for the 12-point win.
The Musketeers made 7-of-8 free throws during that stretch to seal the win.
Kunkel finished with a team high 19 points, while Magruder had 14, Liefer 12 and Hoffman 11.