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  • Devyn McGuire of Danville pressures Kaleb Smith of Urbana on his drive to the basket. Deb Edwards/Commercial-News

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  • Dennis Hightower of Danville drives by Jerrod Webster of Urbana. Deb Edwards/Commercial-News

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February 4, 2012

Vikings lose sixth straight

BY CHAD DARE Commercial-News

URBANA — Getting shots wasn’t a problem for the Danville Vikings on Friday night — it was making them.

For the fourth consecutive game, Danville was held to less than 40 percent shooting and the Viking suffered their sixth straight loss as the Urbana Tigers cruised to a 88-67 Big 12 Conference victory.

“The bottom line, we didn’t finish well,’’ Danville coach Gary Tidwell said. “We missed a lot of easy baskets and that led to fastbreak opportunities for them.’’

The Vikings (5-16 overall, 4-5 in the Big 12) made just 2 of 8 shots to start the game and Danville was just 7-of-21 in the first quarter.

On the other side, Urbana (9-11, 5-5) was 9-of-16 from the field and the Tigers were 3-of-7 behind the 3-point arc building a 27-17 lead after the opening eight minutes.

“They shot the 3-ball early, they shot it well. We just couldn’t climb out of the hole that we were in during the first half,’’ Tidwell said. “We closed it a little, but we couldn’t capitalize on the offensive end.’’

Danville spent the rest of the game trailing by 10 or more points. The Vikings had a 11-4 run early in the third quarter to get within 54-42, but that was as close as they got.

“We got off to a slow start there and wasn’t able to recover,’’ Tidwell said. “The main disappointing part for me was on the offensive end. They made us make plays. It was unconventional defense, but the easy layup opportunities were there, but we didn’t finish.

“I think we were right there if we make layups. We are struggling with confidence. It’s a mentality part.’’

Danville had four players finish in double figures as senior Jaron Cunningham had a team-high 20 points to go along with 13 rebounds, but the Vikings didn’t have a single player shoot better than 50 percent in the game.

Cunningham was 7-of-16, Dennis Hightower, who had 18 points, was 6-of-18, Devyn McGuire was 5-of-11 as he finished with 12 points and Donte Ingram was 4-of-10 and finished with 10 points.

“The team played hard, but we were out of the flow and didn’t execute well,’’ Tidwell said.

P.J. Blissit had game-high scoring honors for Urbana with 22 point, while Jerrod Webster chipped in with 16 and Donald McKinley had 11 to go along with a game-high six assists.

“They are a veteran team, they handle the ball well, they shoot well and they play hard,’’ Tidwell said of Urbana.

The Vikings are back at home on Tuesday as Danville will host the Mattoon Green Wave in a Big 12 Conference contest.

It will be the final meeting between Danville and Mattoon as Big 12 opponents as the Green Wave is leaving the league for the Apollo Conference next year.

In the junior varsity game, Urbana reversed the tables on Danville with the Tigers earning a 72-65 win in overtime.

The Vikings earned an overtime victory a month ago against the Tigers.

Denzel Smith led Danville with 17 points, followed by Ingram with 14, Trent Sherfield had 12 and Chris Collier chipped in with 10.

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