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The Dupo High School Varsity Tigers boy’s basketball team traveled to Valmeyer Friday night to face the Pirates in Cahokia Conference, Kaskaskia Division action. The Tigers were hoping to gain their third win of the season while the Pirates were still looking for their first win and the game turned out to be an exciting contest as the Pirates downed the Tigers 59-58 in overtime. Dupo Tigers Varsity Boys Basketball Coach Matt Carpenter said, “We made some dumb mistakes tonight. I made some mistakes coaching and not getting some guys in the game when I should have. We missed free throws, lay-ups and in a one-point game there are a lot of things you could point out. There’s not just one thing that cost us the game.”
The Pirates raced out to an early 10-4 lead in the first quarter, but the Tigers hustled back into the contest, down by three points (14-11) with a minute left in the first quarter. Dupo Tigers Coach Matt Carpenter seemed to be substituting a bit more early in the contest, something we had not seen from the Tigers in their previous games. But the Pirates held their lead 16-11 at the end of the first quarter, mostly capitalizing on Tiger miscues in their ball handling. Coach Carpenter said, “The early substitutions were designed to help us out later in the game but there were also some guys doing some things that I’ve told them all season not to do and they still haven’t learned. Dumb things like one handed hook passes, passes over the head, the 20 foot cross court passes when you’ve got a guy open five feet from you. The only way I know to get through to them now is to sit them.”
Dupo tried to battle back in the second quarter, but each time the Tigers would come within a few points of the Pirates Dupo mistakes would find them falling behind again, a pattern of play that has plagued the Tigers in their recent losses to Steeleville and Lebanon. In addition, the opposition has been fouling more than the Tigers but the difference has been the opposition’s ability to convert fouls into points and Dupo’s inability to do the same, a factor on display against the Pirates as well. Still, the Tigers kept it close at the half outscoring the Pirates 12-10 in the second quarter to make the score 26-23 Valmeyer at the half.
With 6:10 to go in the third quarter the Dupo Tigers finally tied the game at 28-28. Through the remainder of the third and into the fourth quarter the lead changed hands several times. With 6:40 left in the fourth quarter Tiger guard Kevin Steinhauer hit a three pointer to give Dupo a four-point lead 40-36. With 3:34 left in the fourth quarter the Tigers held their biggest lead of the game 48-43, but with 1:15 left in the fourth the Pirates came back to tie it at 52-52. After a Tiger timeout with 42.2 seconds left, the Pirates stole the inbound pass and scored to take the lead 54-52 with 35 seconds left. The Pirates then forced another Tiger turnover and with possession and the lead took a timeout with 22.2 seconds left. The Tigers responded with some defense of their own forcing the Pirates to turn the ball over and the Tigers’ Matt Ragsdale was fouled as he drove the baseline. Down by two with 15 seconds remaining, Ragsdale failed to convert on the free throws, but on the ensuing rebound Kaleb Anderson tied up a Pirate player with the ball giving Dupo possession with 11.7 seconds left. The Tigers worked the ball down low to Kevin Steinhauer who was fouled on the shot and went to the free throw line with a chance to tie the game with 4.1 seconds left. Steinhauer made both free throws tying the game at 54-54 and sending into overtime.
In the overtime session, after teach of the teams exchanged scores and fouls putting them both in the bonus shooting one and one, the Tigers called a timeout with the ball and the lead at 58-57 with 48.7 seconds left in overtime. The Tigers immediately turned the ball over out of the timeout and the Pirates held possession with 40 seconds left. After a missed shot by the Pirates’ Mike Wuelling, Valmeyer’s Kyle Kipping got the tip in on the rebound giving the Pirates the lead 59-58 with fifteen seconds left. Then it got strange as Dupo seemed to lapse mentally, showing no urgency to score with the clock ticking down. Finally Coach Carpenter called timeout with just 2 seconds left. The Tigers inbounded the ball to Caleb Tatum on the right baseline who took the final shot as it bounced off the rim and the Pirates win 59-58.
Once again the Tigers were plagued by one bad quarter. The Tigers outscored Valmeyer 47-43 in the 2nd, 3rd, & 4th quarters and the overtime session. The first quarter was their undoing, but they still gave themselves opportunity to win. Coach Carpenter said, “I think we did a great job of making them play our game. When we got caught up in their game it costs us a few buckets here and there but that was just a part of the flow of the game.” The Tigers were led by senior forward Caleb Tatum with 22 points. He was 4 of 5 from the free-throw line and had 11 rebounds. Tatum is currently fourth in the St Louis area in rebounds with 105, an 11.7 per game average, posting double-doubles (double figures in points and rebounds) in most games. Kaleb Anderson followed with18 points and Kevin Steinhauer with 10 points, 2 of 2 from the line. Looking ahead Coach Carpenter said, “We need a conference win. We’ve got New Athens on Monday and then the Affton Tournament between Christmas and New Years. New Athens is a winnable game, we’ve got to stand up, buck up and protect our home court.”
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