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The Tigers came home on Monday night hoping to get their first conference victory of the season. But what happened has become all too familiar to the Dupo Varsity boys basketball team in the early stages of this season. Turnovers, inconsistent effort on defense and one quarter out of four that always seems to get away from the Tigers all came together resulting in a 65-54 loss to the New Athens Yellowjackets.
The most noticeable thing in the first quarter was the absence of senior forward Kaleb Anderson and senior guard Kevin Steinhauer from the Tigers’ starting lineup. As was the case last Friday at Valmeyer, Dupo Tigers’ Head Coach Matt Carpenter shook up the Tigers’ lineup with frequent substitutions in hopes of finding some answers or a combination that works on the court. The Tigers’ starting lineup was decidedly taller in order to keep up with the size of the Yellowjackets who boast three starters at 6’4”, 6’4” and 6’2”.
The Yellowjackets took an early 6-0 lead and about midway through the first quarter went to a man to man defense. The defense proved effective against the Tigers as they focused on denying senior forward Caleb Tatum the ball in the low post. The defensive pressure resulted in Dupo turnovers as New Athens held the lead 12-4 with 4:05 left in the first quarter. The Yellowjackets defensive pressure also resulted in fouls but the Tigers were never able to capitalize. But the Tigers were able to slow down the Yellowjackets offense and closed out the first quarter down 18-10.
In the second quarter Coach Carpenter continued frequent substitutions as the Tigers did a better job defensively shutting down the passing lanes and forcing the Yellowjackets into an outside game. But New Athens was up to the task and began hitting the three-point shot. Every time it seemed Dupo was climbing back into it the Yellowjackets responded with a run of their own. Coach Carpenter said, “We changed our defense four times in the second quarter. In everything we did there was a break down or let down somewhere. Once they started hitting from outside we had to go man to man and that’s when they went inside.” The Tigers drew to within six points trailing 20-14 at one point but then the game changed for good. As the Tigers were forced to defend the outside shot the larger Yellowjackets exploited the inside and took the lead for good, most notably to their forward 6’4” Vince Kiefer. Coach Carpenter said, “Their big kid Kiefer has been starting since his Freshman year and he has been an all conference selection the last three years. So we knew he was going to be a force tonight.” The Yellowjackets finished the second quarter with a 20-3 run making the halftime score 40-17. New Athens had three players in double figures at halftime and were 6 of 6 from the free throw line.
While the Yellowjackets took a more conservative approach in the third quarter the Tigers tried to push the tempo. And while the Tigers outscored the Yellowjackets in the third quarter they never had a run to match what the Yellowjackets did in the second quarter. But the Tigers outscored New Athens 11-7 in the third quarter, still down by nineteen points 47-28.
The fourth quarter belonged to the Dupo Tigers’ Kevin Steinhauer. Steinhauer came out on fire hustling on offense and defense. Making steals, creating turnovers, scoring inside and outside as Steinhauer lit up New Athens for 19 points in the fourth quarter, hitting four three pointers and was 3 of 3 from the free-throw line. Coach Carpenter said, “We just turned him loose in the fourth quarter. We wanted to push the tempo even more then we did in the third quarter. Basically we said just get it and go, no more waiting just get it up the floor and score and we’ll see what happens.” Although the Tigers outscored the Yellowjackets 26-18 in the fourth quarter it wasn’t enough as New Athens won 65-54.
The loss left the Tigers at 2-8 overall and 0-5 in the conference. The Tigers are playing in the Affton Holiday Tourney next week, facing Priory on Monday at 10:00 a.m.
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