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Nick Gonnella
South Bows Out To Eagles 65-59 Friday
The South Decatur boys basketball team fought the defending Class 1A state champions to the finish, but the Cougars could not pull off the upset in Friday’s South Decatur Sectional 60 tournament.
The Eagles topped the Cougars 65-59 in a hard-fought match-up.
South was battling to advance to Saturday’s sectional final. To fulfill its tournament dreams, the Cougars would have to knock off a rival that beat South by 14 earlier in the season.
South (1-20) fell behind 9-4 halfway into the first quarter, but a lay-up by senior Chris Dickson off a turnover pulled it to within three.
After trailing 21-14 as JCD’s Matt Speer scored nine early points, Tyler Ewing answered with a 3-pointer and senior Ryan Mote hit a basket. Junior Grant Niese, South’s leading scorer, answered an Eagle score with a trey to cut the score to 23-19 at the end of the first quarter.
Niese stayed on JCD’s heels throughout the second quarter. He scored a quick four, then tied the game at 29 with a free throw. Ewing had given South a 28-27 lead moments earlier with a pair of charity throws.
After the Eagles regained a four-point edge, Dickson struck again for a coast-to-coast lay-up to make the halftime score 33-31.
South found itself down by seven points, 44-37 with three minutes left in the third. Mote converted a 3-point play, but JCD jumped out 49-40 before freshman guard Dustin Huff hit a triple at the buzzer.
“Dustin Huff has started to shoot the ball real well,” said head coach Joe Hartwell.
The teams exchanged free throws throughout the fourth quarter until Niese scored six quick points to make the score 57-52. Moments later, Ewing’s jumper and another Huff bomb pulled South to within two at 59-57, but that was the closest it got.
“We fought back and got it to within two,” said Hartwell. “They made a run at the very end, but we couldn’t catch up.”
Mote’s final shot of the night finished off the final margin at 65-59.
Ewing led South with 16 points, including 7-for-10 from the foul line. Niese added 14, while Huff scored eight. Mote finished with seven, while senior Taylor Wilkerson added five. Dickson scored four, junior Jordan AmRhein added a triple and junior Blake Moore chipped in two.
South shot 12-for-19 from the foul line and 16-for-33 from close range shots. The Cougars made four of seven treys.
Trevor Arnett led JCD with 20 points, while senior Shane Adams followed with 13.
“I couldn’t be more proud of the kids’ effort,” said Hartwell. “Blake Moore was the real defensive catalyst on the other end. The bottom line is, we came out on the short end. I couldn’t be more proud of the kids’ effort.”
Scoring By Quarters:
SOU - 19 14 10 16 - 59
JAC - 23 12 14 16 - 65
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