ALTON - Blake Hall led Alton with 14 points, but St. Louis U. High got 23 points from Aaron Walker, Jr. and a good defensive effort to defeat the Redbirds 59-42 and advance to the final of the Alton Tip-Off Classic Friday night at the Redbirds Nest.
The Junior Billikens and Alton were tied after the first quarter 8-8, but SLUH went out to a 25-18 lead at halftime, then led after the third quarter 38-30 and pulled away in the fourth, outscoring the Redbirds 21-12 to take their win and advance to the final.
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To go along with Walker's 23 points, the Junior Billikens got 14 points from Richard Phillips, Dylan Humphrey had nine points, Isom McCall came up with six points, Cal Kreuter had five points and Jalen Jones scored two points.
In addition to Hall's 14 points, the Redbirds added eight points from Hassani Elliott, seven points from Byron Stampley, Jr., Alex Macias came up with five points, Tyrius Jones scored three points, both Kameron Burnett and Kobe Taylor had two points each and Jamion Everage hit for a single point.
Lancers Defeat SWC Rival O'Fallon 65-52
In the first semifinal, the Lancers defeated Southwestern Conference rival O'Fallon 65-52 to advance to the final against SLUH, as Jordan Pickett led the way with 22 points and Antwine Wilson added 18 points.
The Lancers started off by holding a 17-15 lead after the first quarter, then expanded it to 30-22 at halftime and 47-28 after three quarters before the Panthers rallied and outscored East 24-20 in the final period, but the middle quarters proved to be too much for O'Fallon to overcome as the Lancers took the win.
In addition to Pickett and Wilson's leading scores, East got nine points from Alex Jackson, Darien Singleton hit for eight points, T'Jae Montgomery scored four points and both Savion Mitchell and Mason Moseley scored two points each.
O'Fallon was led by Jaeden Rush's 14 points, while Will Brown hit for 12 points, both Jalen Smith and Koby Wilmoth scored 10 points each and Rini Harris had six points.
In the consolation semifinals, Lift For Life Academy of St. Louis won over St. Louis Confluence Academy 53-30 and Jennings won over St. Louis Carnahan High School of the Future 79-49.
The final between the Lancers and Junior Billikens will tip off at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday night, while the Redbirds and Panthers face off for third and fourth place at 6 p.m.
Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.
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