EDWARDSVILLE - Edwardsville High boys basketball junior guard Malik Allen had one of his best games of the season on Dec. 10 in the Scott Credit Union Edwardsville Shootout, leading the Tigers with 19 points as Edwardsville defeated Mary Institute-Country Day of Ladue, Mo., 55-50, dealing the Rams their first loss of the season.

The Tigers all played well and worked hard throughout the game, getting key baskets when they needed them. It was a very good bounce-back win also, as Edwardsville came back from a couple of tough Southwestern Conference losses earlier in the week to both O'Fallon and Belleville East. Allen is an iCAN Clinic Male Athlete of the Month for the Tigers.

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"I'm feeling pretty good," Allen said in a postgame interview. "I'm glad we got the win and we're going to keep working hard, the season's not over. That was a tough loss last night (to East), so we wanted to make sure we came out big tonight and come out with a win and we did that."

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The win over a previously undefeated Rams' team will no doubt help pay dividends down the road for the Tigers.

"It was big," Allen said. "It'll help us and we're going to build on this, we're not going to keep going back, we're going to keep building."

Allen feels like the Tigers are starting to gel very well as a team and that they'll be a force to be reckoned with as the season goes along, especially after the holidays.

"I feel like we're coming together," Allen said. "We're stepping up, as you can see today and we're going to keep playing and keep working hard."