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EDWARDSVILLE – East St. Louis held Edwardsville to one point in a stretch from late in the first quarter to early in the third as the Flyers defeated the Tigers 49-22 in a Southwestern Conference boys basketball game Wednesday night at Lucco-Jackson Gym.
The Tigers only point in the second quarter was on a Nic Hemken free throw during a 27-1 East Side run, during which Edwardsville did have many good looks at the basket, but the shots wouldn’t drop.
The Tiger defense played very well in holding the Flyers to their season low in points.
“I thought we did a lot of things well,” said Edwardsville coach Dustin Battas, “I think we held them to their season low. I think they scored 50 against Belleville West; we hold them to 49, and a lot of those points were in transition, so I thought our quarter-court defense was pretty good. We held (Terrance Hargrove) to seven points, which I think was his season low. They’re really good. We knew they were really good coming in, they play well together, they’ve got good players who are well-coached. So, I know the scoreboard looks like we didn’t do a lot of things well, but we executed a lot of the things we practiced. We just had a hard time making shots around the rim, because of their length, and had a hard time making threes, and that was probably because of their length and speed as well.”
The Flyers used a full-court press to force turnovers, which also led to some baskets, frustrating the Tigers.
“Certainly. That’s something we’ll continue to work on in practice; we work on it every day,” Battas said. “Our guys are getting better at it. It’s just hard to get it in the middle against the press, and you have an open lay-up, you take off and make it, and then, they come from behind and block it. Or throw it to the corner, you wind up a three and miss it. So, actually against the press, we had some opportunities to make baskets, we’re just having a hard time converting them. And I think we have improved, and we’ll continue to work on that.”
The Tigers may have had trouble in shooting the ball, but Battas believes that his team should just keep shooting the shots that they practice.
“I think we want them to shoot the ones we practice,” Battas said. “There’s a couple I thought we took that were rushed, because of their length. But certainly, we have guys shooting threes that can make them. I don’t think it’s a case of just a bunch of guys playing selfishly; I think by design, we want to make lay-ups and make threes. But I think their speed has a lot to do with us missing them. But we’re going to keep shooting. We shoot every day, and we really are confident in the guys that do shoot them as we put the time in, and we’re optimistic that we’ll start making them.”
It was tough defense that marked the opening two minutes of the game, as both sides had chances that were missed because of defensive pressure. Richard Robinson broke through with a jumper in the lane for the first basket, which was followed by a Malik Robinson drive to the hoop to tie things up. An Elijah Rice basket and a free throw from Armond Williams made it 5-2 for the Flyers before Robinson hit on a three-point play to tie the game up once again. Jashawn Anderson stole the ball and scored shortly before the end of the period to make it 7-5 for East Side, where it stood at quarter time.
The tough defensive play on both sides marked the start of the second quarter before Jabril Olivara stole and scored to make it 9-5. That started a string of 15 unanswered points by East Side to extend its lead to 22-5. Both Richard Robinson and Cornellious LeFlore both scored inside, while Rice scored after a steal to make it 15-5, forcing Edwardsville to call time out. Olivara then scored on a basket and a three-ball, and Kendez Basquine scored to make it 22-5 before Hemken’s free throw ended the string. A Basquine free throw and a dunk from Lashawn Johnson made the halftime score 25-6 for the Flyers.
The Flyers scored the first seven points of the second half to further extend its lead, getting a three from Williams, an alley-oop dunk from Hargrove and an Anderson drive to make it 32-6. The Tigers then went on an 8-0 run of their own, as Brennan Weller hit from the free throw line, connected on a three-ball from the side, and Malik Robinson hit another three from up top to cut the lead to 32-14. East Side called time, then went on to outscore Edwardsville 5-3 in the remainder of the period to make it 37-17 after three.
A Carlton King basket off a steal, and both two free throws and a three from LeFlore started off the final period for the Flyers, making it 44-17, before a Matt Stopka basket inside made it 44-19. East Side then outscored the Tigers 5-3 the rest of the way to make the final 49-22.
Neither team had a player in double figures for the game. Malik Robinson and Weller led Edwardsville with eight points each, while Basquine scored eight for the Flyers, and both LeFlore and Hargrove had seven points apiece.
The Tigers, now 2-6 on the season, have a week off to prepare for the Prairie Farms Collinsville Holiday Classic, where they’ll play Quincy next Thursday morning at 10:30 a.m. Battas is looking forward to the opportunity for practice time with his team.
“It is really nice to have practice,” Battas said. “We’ve been kind of begging for a few more than just two days of practice. We’ve been going Tuesday-Friday, and Tuesday-Friday, so we’ve really had two days between games to get better for that opponent, and it’d be really nice to improve and have a streak of practices in a row. Because of Collinsville and the rest of our season, we’ll have to play different styles, depending on who we play. So we really take advantage of practice, this group does. I think that’s why our quarter-court defense is so good. And they’re very coachable, and they’re very smart, so we are really thinking this next week, we can improve and get a lot better.
As an example, Battas pointed to the scores in both the first and third quarters against the Flyers, where East Side won each period by both 7-5 and 12-11, respectively.
“The first quarter, about 7-5 in that first quarter,” Battas said. “I think the third quarter, they beat us 12-11. So we’ve had these eight-minute segments of games where we’re really competitive. And with what I think is one of the best 3A teams in the state, and 4A teams in the state in Belleville West, as far as our league. So we’re just trying to focus on those positives and coach the negatives. But we’re not down on our guys.”
Chris Rhodes also contributed to this story.
