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The Dupo Tigers Varsity Boys Basketball Team opened their season last week at the 29th Annual Metro East Lutheran High School Thanksgiving Tip-Off Classic in Edwardsville. The tournament is in pool play format with four teams in each pool. How you perform in your pool decides what game you play in the finals. Dupo’s pool included the Staunton Bulldogs, the East Alton/Wood River Oilers and the Litchfield Panthers. Unfortunately it was not what the Tiger faithful had hoped for as the Tigers lost all three pool play games placing them in the 7th Place game against the Gillespie Miners. But the Tigers persevered notching their first win of the season over the Miners 58-51. Dupo Tigers Head Coach Matt Carpenter said, “We played well defensively in the first half and we played well enough in the second half to win. Our goal defensively is to give up 50 points or less per game. We feel that if we can do that we can have a chance in every game we play.”
The game started out a bit slowly as the score stayed 2-2 for almost half of the first quarter as each team took turns missing shots and turning the ball over. Finally both teams started to get it together offensively as they traded baskets and Dupo led 15-12 after the 1st quarter. The second quarter was more of them same as the two teams seemed to be pretty evenly matched even though Dupo had maintained the lead since midway through the first quarter. Dupo led 26-20 at the half.
The Miners dug their way back into the contest in the third quarter. With 3:40 left in the third Gillespie trailed by one 30-31. Dupo managed a 9-4 run to finish the third quarter keeping the lead at 39-35. But the Miners weren’t done yet as they continued to push the Tigers and finally tied the game at 51-51 with 1:16 left in the fourth quarter. The Miners had not led or tied the Tigers since early in the first quarter. But with time running out and the Tigers leading 54-51 with 25.2 seconds left Gillespie was now forced to foul the Tigers in order to stop the clock, sending Tiger players to the free throw line. The Tigers’ Kevin Steinhauer hit both ends of a one and one twice in the late going to make the final score 58-51.
While the Tigers would have like to have performed better in the Tournament there were some bright spots. Senior forward Kaleb Anderson who scored 18 points in the win over Gillespie was named to the All-Tournament Team. Anderson averaged nearly twenty points a game in the four game set. Coach Carpenter said, “Anderson has been playing varsity since he was a freshman and he knows what’s expected of him every night.” Senior guard Kevin Steinhauer who scored 14 points against Gillespie could also be an emerging presence for the Tigers. Coach Carpenter said, “Steinhauer had a good game today. I’ve had numerous talks with him this season. He’s a senior, he’s a guard but he gets frustrated rather easily. But he knows what I expect of him and he’ll get better as the season progresses.” Senior forward Caleb Tatum is certain to play an important role for the Tigers’ inside game. Coach Carpenter said, “Caleb Tatum is certainly our biggest body on the floor but he’s also one of the best athletes we have. He needs to be a little more aggressive and he’ll be fine. I don’t have exact numbers but Tatum had at least 15 rebounds a game the first three games this week.”
When asked about what they learned from the tournament Coach Carpenter replied, “We’ve got to work harder on defense, we’ve got a few kinks to work out. Offensively we’ve got to work on passing and cutting, taking better care of the ball and hitting the glass better as a team.”
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