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JERSEYVILLE - Alton's boys' basketball team got a game-high 26 points, from Ky'lun Rivers and 13 more from senior Moory Woods, as the Redbirds defeated Jersey 83-66 in a game played Friday night at Havens Gym.
Both teams took turns with runs, but eventually, the Alton pressure wore down the Panthers, forcing 25 Jersey turnovers that were converted into baskets.
The Redbirds also were able to cut down on their fouls, and forced the Panthers into early foul trouble.
"Well, a couple of games ago, we committed 51 team fouls," said first-year Alton head coach Dana Morgan. "So the first thing I'm going to say to our guys is we weren't as touchy-feely as we normally would," he said with a laugh. "But I thought our guys, they had a run earlier in the game, but I thought our guys kind of calmed themselves. We're going to be small, we can't create a 6' 8" kid, but I thought our pressure was really good. I thought our seniors played really well, and I thought we didn't settle for three point shots tonight. I thought we got to the rim, got off transition. So I'm really happy with the team. We've really been working on not fouling, not being as aggressive.
"I just think that when you're pressing, having pressure, you tend to want to steal the ball," Morgan continued. "And we're trying to steal a pass instead of steal the ball. Or a forced shot is a turnover, because we get the ball. So we're just trying to teach our guys not to be as handsy, because they just want to be so aggressive, and want to try to take the ball from a dribbler."
The pressure defense was a big factor in the Redbirds' success on the night.
"We were," Morgan said. "I thought our pressure would be effective tonight, and this is how we have to be. We're small, we've got to be scrappy, we've gotta fight, we've gotta run, we've gotta pressure, we've gotta have five guys on the glass. This is how we've got to play every night. Carbondale shot 36 free throws against us. We're not going to beat a good team like that. So I thought our guys had a really good week of practice, and kind of adjusted to just being basic inside on defense.
The Redbirds were the second Southwestern Conference team Jersey has faced in the young season, and Panther coach Stote Reeder had high praise for Alton.
"I mean Alton's really good," Reeder said. "That's the best team we've played all year. We turned it over way too much, but they had a lot to do with it. Foul trouble in the first half hurt. It's becoming a pattern, but yeah, I don't know if we'll see a faster team. It's the second Southwestern Conference team we've played; Belleville East and these guys. We just turned it over too much. We gave them too many opportunities, but we fought like crazy. We're getting better in our offense. We had a decided size advantage, and we lost it four minutes into the game. So, the game plan hadn't changed offensively. We wanted to really establish Alex (Strebel) early, and Alex got taken away from us. I was proud of our kids; I thought they fought hard. Obviously, we didn't play our best, but Alton had a lot to do with it, and this game is going to make us better."
Other Panther players stepped up when Strebel and Matthew Jackson got into foul trouble early on, and played very well.
"Obviously, Tucker (Shalley) was good, Garrett (Carey) played great. Tucker and Garrett and Seth (Churchman) had to play the entire second quarter. Tucker and Garrett each got a little rest in the second quarter, and that was it. They were gassed, and they're responsible for getting us in our offense for 90 feet against all that pressure. I don't know, they both probably turned it over some, but I thought those two played really well. It (stunk) that Alex and Matt were on the bench the first half, but I thought Phil (McGuire) and Cole (Spencer) came off the bench, and they kept us in the game. All three of them have played hard, I mean, Cole's coming off a game where I didn't play him at Jacksonville, because I didn't trust him. He came out and earned the trust today, he played really well. So the bench guys kept us in it the first half, but their speed got to us; they just really wore us down."
Besides Rivers and Woods, who also had eight rebounds and nine assists, Lonnie Tate had a good game for Alton with 12 points, while Ja'Markus Gary and Dante' Herrin both had nine points. Shalley led the Panthers with 20 points on the night, while Jackson did score 12, all of them in the final quarter, and Carey chipped in 10. Ian Sullivan also scored nine points for Jersey, with Strebel having seven points, and Churchman six.
The Panthers are now 3-3, and have an important Mississippi Valley Conference game next Friday at Civic Memorial, then are at Pittsfield Dec. 14 in a 4 p.m. tip-off, then host Waterloo Dec. 20 before going into the Pinckneyville Holiday Tournament. The Panthers have just finished a stretch of six games in 12 days to open the season, and Reeder is looking ahead to getting back to work in practice.
"We only have three games now in two weeks; we've just got done with six games in 12 days," Reeder said. "So now, we really get time to work on some stuff, get ourselves better in practice, and it's three winnable games. Two of them are on the road, but they're games we've really got to focus on. CM is never easy to play, they're going to be geared up for us. That's what we're focused on right now, is those guys."
The Redbirds, in the meantime, improve to 3-1 and face Paducah, Ky., Tilghman in the Marion Shootout today at 4 p.m., then open Southwestern Conference play Tuesday night at home against O'Fallon and next Friday against IHSA Class 3A champion East St. Louis, with both tip-offs at 7:30 p.m. Morgan is looking ahead to the upcoming challenges.
"I don't know what Paducah Tilghman has; their first game was tonight," Morgan said. "For as small as we are, I think we have to rebound. We gave up some offensive rebounds, we kind of gambled a little bit of defense, kind of gave up some open drives. I didn't think we took enough charges tonight, but I think for us, I'm going to ask one of our coaches, we have to take care of the ball. We have to be a 10-or-less turnover team. Even as fast as we played, because everybody thinks the Southwestern Conference is going to be down, the Southwestern Conference is going to be straight-out wars. I think everybody's going to be good. And we've got to take care of the ball, have to rebound the ball, and just have to be solid in that, put people on the free throw line."
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