COLLINSVILLE - A basket off a drive by R.J. Walker with 15.4 left in regulation was the difference as Decatur Eisenhower defeated Edwardsville 48-46 in the opening round of the 36th Collinsville Prairie Farms Holiday Basketball Classic on Friday afternoon at Vergil Fletcher Gym.
The loss relegated the Tigers to the consolation bracket in a close game where neither team was able to lead by more than four points the entire game.
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Walker's basket was the result of a good play and an uncharacteristic defensive breakdown by the Tigers.
"Our defense for 15 years I've been at Edwardsville has been the backbone of our program, and we take a lot of pride in what we do," said Tigers coach Dustin Battas. "And I just told the guys we know offense is one of those things I think we can get better at with practice, but we had some lapses on defense, held in front of the boxes that we shouldn't have, coming off the wrong guy. that is a little bit uncharacteristic of our guys. Giving up 48 points a game is a tough pill for us to swallow. So I think we're disappointed in some of our defensive execution."
The Tigers didn't call a time out to set up a play after the last basket, and it's a situation that the team practices many times. The final shot missed however to give the Panthers the win.
"I didn't want to call time out," Battas said. "I think allowing them to go set their defense and guard Brennan (Weller) is actually harder for us to play against. We'd like to get the ball there and just go get an open shot at the basket."
The possibility was discussed during an Eisenhower time out, but Battas had his plan set well before.
"The referee actually came over and asked if we wanted to take a time out of if they scored," Battas said, "and I said no. I think at 12 seconds, you've got enough time to get it to a guard and get it up the floor good. And we practice those things. So, I don't think we would change anything different there. I think they made a tough play, and we weren't able to make one late."
It was a back-and-forth game, again where either team led by more than four. But the Tigers just couldn't get on the run that would break the game open.
"We made a few mistakes, turnovers late, a couple of missed lay-ups," Battas said. "if you're going to pull away from a good team like they are, you're going to have to execute those things a little bit better. Some of that's on me; we went four corners late, put Caleb (Valentine) in a bad spot. And like I said, we've been able to overcome some of those things because our defense has been really good. We let (Brylan Phillips) catch it on the elbow. and whirl right, make an inside three. that's just been stuff that's very uncharacteristic of us. And I thought for the most part, we did a great job of guarding them in the quarter court. But when they were able to tie it and take the lead was because of defensive breakdowns."
Jack Nafzinger had a big breakout game for Edwardsville on the afternoon, scoring 12 points and playing well defensively.
"Yeah, Jack did great of defense," Battas said. "I don't think that's hard for people to see because of our scheme, but he's a helper, and he has to jump to the ball, and I know he can do well. Tonight was probably Jack's best game on defense. He had to guard a guy that was faster than him, and help out on (Cam Rowe0 and (Phillips). IRowe) had four points and (Phillips) had six points, and those guys average about 13 a game. so a lot of that was because of Jack and bringing help. So yeah, I thought Jack made some shots. which we know he can do, and also had a good game of defense."
Walker started the game by hitting a short jumper, but Nafzinger sank a three to give the Tigers an early edge. The Panthers then got a basket from Karon Shelley to take the lead back and then extended it to 6-3 on a pair of free throws by Shelley. The Tigers came back to tie at 6-6 on a Nic Hemken free throw and and Weller follow. Walker then hit a three from the top of the key, but again, Edwardsville forced its way into a tie on a basket by Hemken and a Weller free throw to tie things up at 9-9 after the first quarter.
At the start of the second, Edwardsville got the lead back on a Gabe James basket, which Weller extended to 13-9 on a nice move inside. The two sides then traded baskets for the remainder of the quarter, with the points being scored on baskets from Weller and Valentine, and a driving basket from Weller to give the Tigers a 19-15 lead at the half.
The teams again traded baskets to start the second half before a three from Walker cut the lead to 21-20. Nafzinger countered with his own three, but Rowe scored twice to tie the game at 24-24. After another exchange of baskets, Eisenhower took the lead on a rebound basket from Shelley, forcing the Tigers to call time out. The tempo of the game started going faster, and two baskets from Weller, with a basket from Nafzinger sandwiched in between, gave Edwardsville a 32-28 lead. A three-point play from Jaquan Ratliff cut the lead to one, and the teams then exchanged baskets and free throws that gave the Panthers a 37-35 lead after three quarters.
The final quarter was one of a see-saw variety where neither team could gain an advantage, and it made for some exciting basketball at the end. Weller hit a big three with 3:03 to go in regulation to give the Tigers a 43-39 lead. Then with the score tied late, Weller hit a three to give Edwardsville a 46-43 lead, but a three-point play by Phillips tied the game again at 46-46 with 2:31 left. Eisenhower then got the ball back after a turnover with 1:54 left, and went into a delay game to get the last shot, calling time out twice along the way. On the final play, Walker got a lane to the basket and laid it in with 15.4 seconds to give the Panthers the lead. A final shot missed before the buzzer to give Eisenhower the 48-46 win.
Walker led all scorers with 22 points, while Shelley added 14 for the Panthers. Weller had 20 for the Tigers, while Nafzinger added 12.
Edwardsville is now 5-4 on the year, and will play Oakville from south St. Louis County, who lost to the host Kahoks 68-41, in the consolation quarterfinals at 12 noon in the CHS auxiliary gym, with the winner going to the semifinal game at 8 p.m. against either Quincy or Rockford East. Battas knows that it's going to be a good opportunity for the Tigers to bounce back.
"I told our guys that you don't have time to pout too long," Battas said. "Our guys like to compete, and we get two games tomorrow, we'll watch this one and hopefully find out everything about Collinsville and Oakville that we can."
Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.
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