EAST ST. LOUIS – Things weren't going to come easily for Edwardsville Friday night when they traveled to East St. Louis in a key Southwestern Conference clash.
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The two teams battled and scrapped for everything they could – but in the end, the Tigers pulled away down the stretch to take a 81-70 win over the Flyers to go to 20-1 overall and 8-1 in the SWC; the Flyers fell to 14-7 and 8-2 in the league. The win was Tiger coach Mike Waldo's 699th career win; he'll get his first try at 700 at home Tuesday night against DeSmet.
“East St. Louis is very good,” Waldo said. “They have good big guys, good guards; they were really hard to defend tonight because they made a lot of perimeter shots and they're a very good team. It was a good win for us tonight.
“Defensively we did a good job most of the game of not giving them easy baskets; that's probably what we did best tonight, doing a good job defensively.”
EHS managed to limit the damage University of Illinois recruit Jeremiah Tilmon did, keeping him to 14 points and 13 rebounds. “He's good,” Waldo said. “He's good on defense, he's a good offensive player and we had to give him a lot of attention to keep him from scoring and we ended up giving up some threes because of that.
“I think a lot of those threes you have to give him credit for and the fact the way we had to defend him; a lot of times, how many points you score depends on how you're being guarded. I think he played good for them tonight; it was just hard for him to score.”
EHS' senior trio of Mark Smith, Oliver Stephen and A.J. Epenesa showed the way for the Tigers, with Stephen scoring 21 points, Epenesa 20 with 10 rebounds and Smith 19. “I thought we did a lot of things well at both ends of the floor,” Waldo said. “I thought A.J. did an excellent job of his post defense and his rebounding and I think he did an excellent job of scoring around the basket.”
But an early spark came from Caleb Strohmeier, who ended up with nine points and had some scores that helped set the pace of the game for the Tigers. “I think Strohmeier really helped us early making shots and he's developed into a really good shooter,” Waldo said. “He helped us get a good start making outside shots, and I though that was a big part of the game early and the fact that he made those.
“He's really been making shots; I think that's a really big part of our team now, the fact that he's been shooting well from the perimeter. He helped us get a good start.”
Jack Marinko had 10 points for the Tigers, with Malik Robinson scoring two in the late going. Reyondous Estes led the Flyers with 15 points and Arthur Carter and Travion Vickers each had 10.
After Tuesday's game against the Spartans, the Tigers host Granite City Feb. 10 and Collinsville Feb. 14.
