SEE VIDEO, WELLER GETS 1,000TH CAREER POINT:
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ALTON - Brennan Weller made Edwardsville boys basketball history by becoming the newest member of the Tigers 1,000 point club as Edwardsville went on to a 69-42 win over Alton Saturday afternoon at the Redbirds Nest.
Weller scored 30 points on the afternoon to take his career total to 1,016 points, and Weller would be the first to tell you that he couldn't had done it himself, and to quote the famous Beatles' song, he got by with a little help from his friends.
"Brennan is an outstanding player," Edwardsville head coach Dustin Battas said, "and he's an even better teammate and person. There's a lot that goes into scoring 1,000 points, a lot of hard work, and he would even tell you that he got a lot of help from his teammates. He credited his teammates with helping him reach that milestone."
As for the game itself, it was another fine performance by the Tigers, who kept looking for the open shot, and were able to connect when they got it.
"I thought we were able to get some open shots for our guys," Battas said, "and we guarded them good."
The Tigers held the Redbirds' Ja'Markus Gary to 13 points on the day, and played solid defense throughout.
"He's a tough player to guard," Battas said, "and Jalil (Roundtree) did a great job on him."
Besides Weller, Preston Weaver added 17 points, and Roundtree was able to dish out multiple assists.
"Jalil had a lot of assists, and played stellar defense," Battas said. "And both Gabe (James) and Caleb (Valentine) made big shots. I also thought Shaun Pacette had an excellent game."
Valentine had six points for the Tigers, while Adrian Elliott, Jr. added nine points for the Redbirds, while Keith Smith and Lathan O'Quinn had six points each.
The Redbirds are now 0-5, and play at Collinsville on Tuesday and at East St. Louis on Thursday before hosting O'Fallon next Saturday afternoon. The Tigers go to 4-1, and face four games in five days this week, hosting Belleville West on Tuesday in a makeup game from last week's snowstorm on Wednesday, then go on the road against O'Fallon on Thursday and play at Belleville East next Saturday afternoon. The back-to-back games are a part of each team's schedule this season, due to the condensed season.
"Playing back-to-back games is tough for us, because we love practice," Battas said. "But our guys are excited for the chance to play. We're looking forward to getting back into the gym tomorrow, and playing some games this week."Chris Rhodes also contributed to this story.
