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COLLINSVILLE – Edwardsville and Belleville Althoff put on what could arguably be one of the most memorable games of the season so far Friday night.
Their clash in the final of the 33rd Prairie Farms-Collinsville Holiday Classic basketball tournament certainly had enough moments that the fans in attendance at Fletcher Gym will be recalling before the season comes to an end in March – and possibly beyond.
The Tigers' Mark Smith and the Crusaders' Jordan Goodwin themselves provided plenty of fireworks; the Tigers' A.J. Epenesa achieved a milestone in the final quarter; the determination of both teams no doubt will have fans eagerly looking forward to another possible rematch.
The Tigers, like their first encounter with the Crusaders at the season-opening tournament in Highland, came out on top thanks to Smith's 35-point effort and a 21-point game from Jack Marinko to claim their second Collinsville tournament title (their first since 1992) with an 83-75 win to run their record to 11-2 on the year.
“Althoff's an excellent team,” Tiger coach Mike Waldo said. “I thought they played really well tonight; they were really hard to play against. They were really hard to defend and I thought my guys did a lot of things good tonight. My guys played hard. It was a good win for us.” 
Epenesa scored his 1,000th career point about 90 seconds into the final quarter and ended up with 15 points and 11 rebounds the night after Smith scored his 1,000th point in the semifinal win against Springfield Southeast. “Those guys have done a really good job of getting better and improving each year; they've worked at it. They realize it's a testament to their teammates too to help put them in positions to score.
“Our guys are good practicers and they work together well.”
“We got down against Edwardsville, and that's tough, especially late in the game,” said Crusader coach Greg Lieb. “Our guys fought, they scrapped, they did a lot of good things; we just didn't have enough in the tank to get it done today, and Edwardsville's a good team.
“They had guys step up and (Marinko) came out and had 21 for them. He was hitting threes like Steve Kerr feeding off (Michael) Jordan (in the Chicago Bulls' NBA championship days); when those things happen, it makes it difficult to be successful against them. Guys played hard and we had our chances – we were up at the half – we just didn't do what we needed to in the second half to win the game.”
“People overlook Jack,” Epenesa said. “Obviously, there’s me, Mark and Oliver and then him and (Caleb Strohmeier) and people overlook Jack. He can get buckets and he can shoot the ball. He’s been kind of quiet all this tournament and then he turns it up in this last game, right when we needed him. He made buckets when we needed them and I’m proud of him for that.”
Goodwin, who will be going to Saint Louis next year, provided plenty of spark himself, scoring 33 points with 15 rebounds for the Crusaders, with Marvin Bateman adding 16 points and C.J. Coldon 10 as Althoff fell to 8-3 on the year.
The Tigers return to Southwestern Conference play with home games next week, East St. Louis visiting Tuesday night and O'Fallon Jan. 6.
Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.
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