Redbirds drop sluggish road game

By BRUCE A. FASOL

For most of the evening, the Murphysboro Red Devils struggled at the free throw line. Most of the time, not all of the time.

Murphysboro made free throws when it counted, in a lackluster offensive performance for both teams. The home team was 6 of 8 from the stripe which was the margin of difference in a 34-28 victory. What doomed the Redbirds is that all 6 of the made charity tosses came in the final three minutes of the game. It was during that period that West Frankfort battled back to win a single point.

The game started slowly for both teams, reaching almost the halfway point of the initial quarter before someone scored.  Both teams may have considered replacing Gatorade with Red Bull by quarters end which found Murphysboro up 9-3. Murphysboro scored that first bucket of the game. The Redbirds then answered with a 3-point shot to take a brief lead, with the Devils scoring the next 6 points of the quarter. The offensive drought continued for both teams in the second quarter as well, and at intermission the score was Murphysboro 16- WF 6.

The Redbirds came out with more energy in the third quarter and made a run at the Red Devils. In the third quarter, the Redbirds cut what was a 13-point deficit to just 4 by quarter’s end.