EDWARDSVILLE – Senior forward Jaylen Tuggle is one of Edwardsville High’s most experienced players, and he scored seven points in the Tigers’ 72-57 loss to St. Louis Gateway STEM Tuesday night at Lucco-Jackson Gym.
The Jaguars broke open a close game in the third quarter to take a 49-36 lead, which they kept, although the Tigers closed to within six late before good free throw shooting gave Gateway the win. Rebounding was also a key to the game as well.
Get The Latest News!
Don't miss our top stories and need-to-know news everyday in your inbox.
“Yeah, I think rebounding was a big thing,” Tuggle said in a postgame interview. “We didn’t get a lot of rebounds, and third quarter, we came out kind of slow.”
The Tigers are playing hard, but are making mistakes that are costly in games.
“I think it’s all in our head right now,” Tuggle said. “It’s just basketball. It’s mental, way more mental. At the end of the day, it’s just basketball. Just play basketball, and everything will fall into place.”
The Tigers continue to work hard in their practice sessions, preparing for their next opponent, which will be at East St. Louis on Friday night. Tuggle knows that Edwardsville will be ready to play.
“Yeah, we’ll be ready,” Tuggle said. “Friday, we’ve got a game against East Side. We were up 10 at halftime last time we played them. So we’ll be ready for them.”
Tuggle and fellow senior Malik Robinson are the two most experienced players on the Tigers’ roster this season, and with that also means more responsibility as well.
“Yeah, they want me to be more of a leader, more of a scorer,” Tuggle said. “Just do everything better than what I did last year. Keep playing defense as I did last year.”
Going from a defensive specialist to more of a scorer has been a challenge to Tuggle, and it’s one he’s adapted to quite well.
“Yeah, a little bit,” Tuggle said. “I’ve never really had to do that role before. I can do a lot better, and I will.”
Tuggle played on former coach Mike Waldo’s final team at Edwardsville, and he has great memories of the legendary coach, who’s now an assistant on the men’s team at SIU-Edwardsville.
“I love coach Waldo; he’s a great coach,” Tuggle said. “Probably one of the best coaches I’ve ever been around. He just made you want to do good. You trusted him, and he trusted you.”
Tuggle has known current Tigers coach Dustin Battas since sixth grade, and has an equally good relationship with Battas as well.
“I’ve known coach Battas since sixth grade,” Tuggle said. “We have a good relationship, so it’s not really that different.”
As he and Robinson are the two most experienced players for the Tigers, Tuggle has taken more of his leadership role on the team, helping to get the team ready for the practices and games.
“We have to get the guys ready,” Tuggle said, “be here at practice early, get all the guys ready to go, get them pumped up before the game, stuff like that.”
Although the Tigers are currently 6-15, they’ve been in every game and competing. Tuggle feels that the team is getting better.
“I feel like we’re competing hard every game,” Tuggle said. “That’s all you can really ask. I guess the rest will fall into place.”
And of course, there’s things that Tuggle thinks his team needs to improve on as the season goes along.
“We just need to start making shots and rebounding,” Tuggle said. “We’ll be fine after that.”
Tuggle has been playing basketball since he was little, and also played football until he was in seventh grade. He felt it was an easy decision to stay with basketball.
“I just liked it more than any other sport,” Tuggle said.
Tuggle has long been a defensive specialist, and also gets other players involved in the game.
“Been more of a defensive, trying to get guys more involved more on offense that are shooting the ball,” Tuggle said, “and at times, trying to get others involved.”
The final weeks of the season are fast approaching, and that also means the IHSA playoffs as well. Tuggle has some simple goals for the remainder of the season.
“I want to string together some wins, so we can get some momentum going into the playoffs,” Tuggle said. “We could probably get out of the first round, and then keep going.”
Tuggle would like to keep playing basketball in college, and has started to receive offers from various schools. But at this point, he’s undecided on where what school he’ll go to this coming fall.
“Just whoever wants me, I’ll play for them,” Tuggle said.
