EDWARDSVILLE – Junior Brown led the way with 16 points, while Thijson Heard added on 11 points as the only players in double figures as Metro-East Lutheran got off to an explosive start in eliminating Mt. Olive 65-18 in a quarterfinal game of the IHSA Class 1A Raymond Lincolnwood boys basketball regional tournament Monday night, Feb. 24, 2025, at Thomas Hooks Gym.
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The Knights got off to a 29-5 first-quarter lead, and held the Wildcats to only eight points in the first half on their way to advancing to meet the host team in Wednesday’s semifinals at Lincolnwood.
"They’re a very good group, and they played hard,’ Metro-East coach Anthony Smith said about his team’s performance on the evening. “We wanted to come out and set a tone early, and later in the game, we wanted the guys to work on small things and finish the game strong,”
The postseason is like a new season for Metro-East, and the Knights finished exactly the way they wanted to.
“We think everyone’s serious about the postseason,” Smith said. “It’s a new season and we’re 1-0.”
The Knights are taking in one game at a time, and focusing on the task at hand in their effort to reach the sectionals next week in White Hall North Greene, and had some good games to close out the regular season strongly.
“We came up with a big win over (Belleville) Althoff (Catholic), and we played Nashville tough,” Smith said. “So, we feel like if we play like we’re capable of, we’ll give ourselves a chance.”
The Knights got off to a hot start, indeed, as Brown scored eight points in the opening quarter, and Heard sank three threes to help Metro-East take a 29-5 first-quarter lead. In the second quarter, a pair of early threes extended lead to 34-5, and after that, the Knights outscored the Wildcats 11-3, holding Mt. Olive to a basket by David Schoen and a free throw by Dexter Frizzo to take a 43-8 lead into halftime.
In the third quarter, the Knights, behind many of their reserves such as Brady Bishop, who dunked on a breakaway, took a 57-11 lead, triggering the fourth-quarter running clock rule. The Wildcats got a three and a basket from Hunter Schehl and another basket from Gavin Kembeck, but the Knights pulled away to take the 65-18 win to go on to the semifinals.
To go along with Brown and Heard, the Knights saw Kaleb Turney hit for eight points, Glasper and Bishop had six points each, Andrew Menosk scored five points, Landyn Jefferson, Jacob Kober, Sean Huber, Lucas Lorenz, and Nathan Burney all had two points each, and Ian Skelton had a single point.
The Wildcats were led by Schehl’s five points, while both Frizzo and Schoen had four points each, Briley Viviano had three points, and Kembeck scored two points.
Mt. Olive ends its season at 5-23, while Metro-East is now 18-11, and moves on to the semifinal Wednesday night against the host Lancers in a 7:30 p.m. tip-off. The winner goes to Friday’s final against either Hardin Calhoun or Father McGivney Catholic in a 7 p.m. start, the winner of the regional moving on to the White Hall North Greene Sectional next week.
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