EDWARDSVILLE - Junior forward Brennan Weller has been one of the key players for Edwardsville High's boys' basketball team this season, and on Wednesday night against East St. Louis, Weller led the Tigers with 13 points, but the Flyers held on to defeat Edwardsville 39-35 in a Southwestern Conference game at Lucco-Jackson Gym.
The Tigers played hard for the entire 32 minutes, and stayed in the game with great defense, a longtime Edwardsville trademark. It was a tremendous effort all the way around.
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"Oh, year, we definitely fought hard," Weller said in a postgame interview. "We got off to a bit of a rough start. I thought we played well, I thought we finished the game well. We've just got to clean up how we start games."
The Flyers went on an early 7-1 run in the first quarter, and led 19-12 at halftime, but the Tigers were able to cut the lead to three at 19-16 early in the third quarter, only to see East Side score eight unanswered points to take a 27-16 lead. The defense still held the Flyers to 39 total points a night after the Flyers used a barrage of threes in a win at Alton.
"We take great pride in our defense in practice," Weller said. "We practice defense a lot. The coaches came up with a great defensive scheme for us to give us a shot at winning this game, and I thought we executed it well."
Edwardsville didn't have the chance to practice for the game, as it was a rescheduled game from earlier in the season. But the team did prepare well for what the Flyers brought to the table.
"Yeah, it's one we would like to have," Weller said. "Hopefully, next time we play them, we'll be able to come up with the win."
Weller felt that he did play well, but missed some shots that he felt he could have made.
"I missed a lot of shots I should have made," Weller said. "Defensively, I thought I played OK. I thought the team played well defensively, but I missed a lot of shots I should have made tonight."
The Tigers work very hard in their practice sessions, and will be ready to go against Alton on Friday night in the nightcap to a girls-boys doubleheader at home. Edwardsville then meets Granite City in the opening round of the Jersey Tournament on Monday evening. And if February, the Tigers will have more tough contests ahead as they prepare for the IHSA Class 4A playoffs. Weller thinks that the Tigers will be peaking at the right time.
"Coach (Kyle) Stewart made a great point," Weller said. "He said we want to be playing our best basketball when it comes playoff time. So we're just going to work on getting better every single day."
