COLLINSVILLE – Edwardsville's boys basketball team stands at 9-3 on the season – 4-1 in the Southwestern Conference – at the end of the 2017 portion of their current campaign.
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The Tigers finished the Collinsville-Prairie Farms Holiday Classic at 2-2, splitting their four games to finish sixth in the tournament, defeating Belleville Althoff and East St. Louis but losing to Decatur MacArthur and Quincy.
Despite the losses, Tiger coach Mike Waldo is happy where his team is at at this point of the season. “I like my guys,” Waldo said. “Our guys practice good, they work together well, they're coachable and unselfish; they're good teammates and I think we've gotten better each week, so I like my guys.
“It's a hard road this season; there's a lot of good teams this season. We just have to keep preparing and keep competing.”
The Tigers opened their season with a last-second win on the road at DeSmet, a 47-44 win over one of the traditionally top teams in the St. Louis area, then defeated Soldan of St. Louis city in their home opener before being defeated by Belleville West at the SWC @ the E SWC-opening showcase at SIUE's Vadalebene Center.
EHS the took narrow SWC wins at Belleville East and at home against Collinsville before scoring wins over St. Louis city's Gateway STEM and SWC rival Granite City before getting past the Flyers on the road heading into the tournament.
When Waldo was asked how playing in the tournament would prepare the Tigers for the rest of the season, he said “we played against a lot of different things, played against a lot of different people and did a lot of different things in the tournament. That always helps you as the season goes on because you're more ready to play against different people as the year goes on.
“I think my guys battled this tournament; this was a hard tournament, we played against a lot of good teams.”
The Tigers return to the SWC competition with a 7:45 p.m. Friday game at O'Fallon to cap off a Mega Night event with the boys and girls JV and varsity teams going up against each other before meeting up with Kansas City Rockhurst at 11:30 a.m. Saturday in the Highland Optimist Shootout showcase.
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