EDWARDSVILLE - It turned out to be a good week for Edwardsville High School boys basketball junior forward Brennan Weller in last week's games for the Tigers, as he scored a total of 46 points in three games as Edwardsville went 2-1 on the week, winning at Belleville East Dec. 10 53-43, losing the home opener on Dec. 13 to Collinsville 47-29, but bouncing back to win over Belleville Althoff Catholic 44-37 in the Scott Credit Union Shootout Dec. 14.
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In those three games, Weller scored 24, 10 and 12 points respectively, and was named the MVP of the game against the Crusaders. In the game against the Kahoks the night before, Weller was also the leading scorer for his team in a game where Collinsville took control in the second quarter and didn't look back.
"Colllinsville's a great team," Weller said in an interview that followed the game against the Kahoks, "and they're one of the better teams we'll play. I thought we prepared for them well, just some things didn't go our way. We could have executed a little bit better defensively and offensively, but that's just little things we can get better at."
Against Collinsville, the Tigers did have some good looks at the basket, but many of the shots didn't fall through. The Tigers' work ethic in their practice sessions will help the team pull through the adversity.
"Yeah, it's just repetition, just working hard every day," Weller said. "Just keeping our heads up, moving on to the next one, and try to get a better performance tomorrow."
Against the Kahoks, Weller felt that the Tigers were very confident and ready to go.
"We were confident, ready to play," Weller said, "ready to give our best shot. We definitely thought that we could give those guys a battle, and that's what we tried to do tonight."
After the loss to Collinsville, the Tigers' record stood at 4-2 overall, and 1-2 in the Southwestern Conference. The win over Althoff makes the Edwardsville overall record now 5-2, and with it still early in the season, Weller feels that the Tigers can turn things around.
"Yeah, definitely," Weller said about the Collinsville game. "It's just one game, we're not going to dwell on it, we're going to come out (Saturday), and try to get back to winning ways."
The shootout had a very positive buzz around the Edwardsville community in the weeks and days going into the event, and Weller knows that the Tigers will go into the remaining games with a positive mindset, and will play hard every night.
"I know every game, we'll just come out hard and play our hardest," Weller said, "and try to do our best to win."
