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The Dupo Tigers boys varsity basketball season came to an end last night as the Lebanon Greyhounds ran away with the 71-39 victory in the first round of the IHSA Class 1A Regional held at Dupo. The Greyhounds will now play on Thursday at 8:00 p.m. and face the Bunker Hill Minutemen who defeated the Mt Olive Wildcats 51-38 on Tuesday evening. The Greyhounds will be seeking revenge against the Minutemen who knocked them out of the regionals last year. The winner of that contest will face the winner of the Lovejoy vs Madison contest, also Thursday at 6:00 p.m. Lovejoy blasted Brussels 70-37 on Monday to advance and Madison, the number one seed with a record of 16-6, drew a first round bye. The Dupo Regional Championship will be played Friday evening at 7:30 p.m.
The loss was the third one this season for the Tigers at the hands of the Lebanon Greyhounds. The Greyhounds finished their regular season as the Cahokia Conference Kaskaskia Division Champions with a 9-1 conference record and were 19-11 overall and drew the number two seed in the Dupo Regional. Dupo on the other hand were nearly the opposite of the Greyhounds finishing 1-9 in the conference with a 6-21 record overall and were seeded seventh out of the seven teams in the Dupo regional. One similarity the two teams had this season were changes in players. Both teams had injuries, departures and disciplinary issues change their lineups this year. Lebanon had a better depth of experience and was able to adapt to the changes while the Tigers slipped mid-season and were forced to go with a youth movement on their bench.
The first quarter started a bit slowly for both teams until Dupo scored the first points of the game to take a 2-0 lead. But the Greyhounds came back to score the next seven points and take a 7-2 lead and Dupo Tigers Coach Matt Carpenter could already sense the momentum shifting as he called a timeout with 6:07 remaining in the first quarter. The Tigers were doing a good job of taking care of the ball, something they’ve had great difficulty with this year, but the Greyhounds never applied full-court pressure against the Tigers, instead sticking to an effective half-court man-to-man defense. The Greyhounds speed and athleticism on defense made scoring difficult for the Tigers as Lebanon gradually gained momentum and outscored the Tigers 20-9 in the first quarter. But even with the eleven-point lead after the first quarter one did not get the feeling that the Tigers were out of the game yet. The Tigers had some missed opportunities offensively and if they could find some way to capitalize they might be able to get back into it.
In the second quarter the Tigers showed real patience on offense. Handling the ball better than they had most of the year against a quality opponent, the Tigers began to find openings in the Greyhounds defense. Some good passing and assists by seniors Matt Ragsdale and Kaleb Anderson found forwards Keynon Outlaw and Caleb Tatum on the low post for some easy buckets. Senior guard Sean Pierce also got into the act with some key baskets. But while the Tigers were beginning to find their offense they had no answer defensively for the quick, elusive Greyhounds. The Tigers may have slowed the Greyhounds down a bit in the second quarter but not enough to make a difference as the two teams each scored sixteen points in the quarter and Lebanon maintained their eleven point lead 36-25. Coach Carpenter said, “We had some dumb mistakes in the first half, but we took care of the ball when we had to. Our goal was to be within ten to twelve points to stay within striking distance. At half time we only had six turnovers. For us to have only six in a half against Lebanon, that was great.”
The halftime score of 36-25 was somewhat of a surprise as many had expected the Greyhounds to take control early and run away with it. For Tiger fans it could have been better but it also could have been worse. In the third quarter it got worse. The Greyhounds eliminated mistakes they had made offensively in the first half and played smothering defense in the second half without using the full court press. Bench depth also played a role as the Greyhounds often went nine deep while the Tigers essentially used six players for most of the game. Fatigue became a factor for the Tigers late while the Greyhounds were fresh. Coach Carpenter said, “At the half I told them that the first two or three minutes of the third quarter would be crucial. We actually kept pace for those two or three minutes but couldn’t keep up after that. They’re just so quick and they have four or five guys that can shoot outside. They spread you out defensively and then take advantage of you. We’ve tried man-to-man defense and full court pressure against these guys and it just didn’t work. They’ve got nine or ten players they can put out in there and not lose a step.” The Tigers just couldn’t keep up as Lebanon outscored Dupo 21-8 in the third quarter to take a commanding 57-33 lead.
The Greyhounds continued their dominance in the fourth quarter even as both teams went to their benches midway through the fourth quarter. The Greyhounds outscored the Tigers 14-6 in the final frame to win the game 71-39.
Not lost in the game Tuesday evening was another fine performance by Dupo Tigers junior forward Caleb Tatum. Tatum has been the team’s most consistent performer throughout the season, scoring 17 points against the Greyhounds. Two of those points came on an impressive steal against one of the finest point guards in the Metro-East, Lebanon’s Jamaar Lewis. Tatum was followed by senior center Kaleb Anderson with seven points and a number of assists. Those stats were not available as of this writing.
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