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Prep Hoops:

Harrisburg got its first taste of life in Class 3A Monday night and it went down without many problems.

The Bulldogs cruised to a 70-46 quarterfinal win over Herrin in the Class 3A Regional at Marion High School, where Harrisburg, who hadn't played in nearly 10 days disposed of the Tigers putting four players in double figures, while Herrin played without two of its stars.

Herrin (10-17) were without starting guard Savion Yarbrough and D.J. Spell due to disciplinary issues, but it didn't matter much to Harrisburg (19-10) who got off to another fast start.

Harrisburg forced the Tigers into 10 first half turnovers, while holding Herrin to three first quarter field goals as the Bulldogs took a 16-6 lead.

It was much of the same in the second quarter as Harrisburg limited the Tigers to three field goals, as Herrin went 6-for-19 in the first half as the Bulldogs went into the locker room with a 34-17 lead.

Harrisburg head coach Randy Smithpeters admitted it would have been nice to play Herrin at full strength, but also noted that's life on the bubble and complimented his team for being ready to come out and play.

"One thing that has impressed me is we had the dead week due to being bumped to 3A and we haven't played since a week ago Friday. So basically, we had 10 days off and a lot of times, that's an opportunity to lose the luster and lose the focus and this group did not," Smithpeters said. "The practices have been good. Sunday's practice was the best practice of the year, in my opinion as far as focus and performance.

"We came out (Monday) and did a lot of things we had to do and this was a rubber match against a very good Herrin team and I thought we came out and defended well, but we also ran our offense well."

Harrisburg sophomore guard Isaiah Saulsberry led all players with a 20 points on 4-of-7 shooting from the field and a 10-for-11 clip from the free throw line. Noah Ferrell came off the bench to finish with 14 points for the Bulldogs, while Blake Drue and Anfernee Houston each tacked on 11 points.

Herrin was led by Jake Downen's 18 points as the 6-foot-3 junior finished one rebound shy of a double-double.

Herrin went 18-for-50 in the game and was just 1-of-13 from 3-point range, while the Tigers made 20-of-23 free throws.

On the flip side, Harrisburg shot 50 percent from the floor, going 23-for-46 and 7-of-18 from behind the arc and finished 17-for-21 at the foul line.

Up next for Harrisburg will be a semifinal date with Murphysboro Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. back at Marion High School. The Red Devils took three meetings from the Bulldogs this season, one of which was an overtime thriller at the Ernie Bozarth Memorial Tournament.

The Red Devils won the Southern Illinois River-to-River Conference, going 8-2 in league play and finishing 24-4 overall.

"Murphysboro is the best team in the conference," Smithpeters said. "They have five basketball players and they can put five people on the floor at any time. They can pass, dribble and shoot. They've gotten off to good starts on us and that's something that we want to prepare for. We have to put a very good game on the floor to have a chance and it's also a game where we can play really well and still lose.

"This is a group that has beaten a lot of teams that are better than them. Almost everybody we have beat has been better than us."

Michael Dann covers prep and college sports for the Harrisburg Daily Register. Follow him on Twitter: @spydieshooter.