EDWARDSVILLE - Senior forward Malik Allen continued his season-opening hot streak by tying his career-high at 24 points, while Edwardsville played lock-down defense as the Tigers won their third game in a row with a 76-27 win over St. Louis Roosevelt in a boys basketball game played Tuesday night at Lucco-Jackson Gym.
Since coming back from injury in a game at O'Fallon on Dec. 6, Allen has been playing exceptionally well, averaging 21.5 points per game. He started out with 20 points in the loss to the Panthers, and after that, scored 19 points against Belleville East and 23 points against St. Louis Gateway STEM the night before tying his career-high against the Rough Riders.
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The Tigers also played a tough defensive style against Roosevelt, which made it difficult for them to get good shots.
"I thought our guys really guarded hard again tonight," said Edwardsville head coach Dustin Battas, "and made it hard for them to get shots that they wanted. (Gabriel Mosley) averaged 23 points a game, and is really good at getting to the basket and shooting long threes. Malik did a really good job on him. I thought we did a great job of assisting on a lot of our open baskets."
The Tigers also shot well, hitting eight threes in the first half, with A.J. Tillman having seven assists.
"Our guys were getting open and we did a great job finding them," Battas said.
It was a great performance from the start by the Tigers, and it all adds up to a three-game winning streak, all at home.
"Overall, a great effort for our guys," Battas said, and we are happy to have won three in a row, now. On to a really tough opponent in undefeated St. Mary's on Friday."
In addition to Allen's 24 points, Tillman and Miccah Butler both added 11 points each, Donovan Coates had nine points, Iose Epenesa came up with eight points, both Kris Crosby and Bryce Pryor had five points each, Rowan Weller scored two points, and SaDonald West had a single point.
Roosevelt is now 2-1 on the year, while the Tigers are now 6-3, and take on St. Louis St. Mary's Southside Catholic and their star player, Zyree Collins, in the opening game of the Carbondale Shootout Friday evening at Carbondale High, with the tip coming at 5 p.m.
Then, the Tigers host Riverview Gardens of north St. Louis County on Dec. 18 at 7:30 p.m. The Tigers then compete in the Mary Institute-Country Day Holiday Tournament Dec. 27-29.
Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.
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