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The Dupo Jr High Basketball Tigers had a ‘tall’ order to fill on Tuesday evening at the Bluffview Elementary Gymnasium. The Freeburg Hornets were coming to town with talented 6’3” 8th Grader Steven Dieker. Could the smaller Tigers keep Dieker in check and give themselves a chance to win? The Tigers did exactly that for the first half before Dieker broke out in the second half to lead the Hornets to the 49-37 victory.
The first half started slowly for both teams as each team made mistakes offensively. But the Tigers employed a little strategy defensively that worked for a while against the much taller Dieker and the Hornets. Dupo Tigers 8th Grade Basketball Coach Kraig Roth was familiar with the Hornets’ standout and had a plan. “We went at him a few times and he got into some foul trouble early. We made an effort to box him out and get him as far away from the basket as possible. He’s not fast, he’s not a great leaper but he’s an aggressive rebounder and a good ball player. That got him into foul trouble and they had to sit him and that’s when we got back in the game.” The Tigers were aided in that when Tiger guard Deondre’ Brown hit a 3-pointer as time expired in the second quarter to put the Tigers within two, 17-15.
But the second half was a different story. The Tigers came out cold and didn’t even score for the first four minutes of the third quarter. In the meantime the Hornets were getting it together behind their big man Dieker. The Hornets were rebounding well and getting a lot of put backs and second and third attempts after missed shots. Mostly by Dieker who led all scorers on the night with 23 points scoring 19 of them in the second half and 11 of those second half points in the fourth quarter. Coach Roth said, “We tried running different defenses at him in the second half but nothing seemed to work. Willie Kidd blocked his shot three or four times but he recovered quickly and still scored. We’re used to getting a lot of offensive rebounds and converting them into second chance points. That didn’t happen tonight, they did a better job of clearing the glass than we did.”
Tyler Barnes led the Tigers with 14 points, followed by Deondre’ Brown with 11 points (three 3-pointers). The loss dropped the 8th Grade Tigers’ record to 4-4.
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