SALEM – Both Jack Marinko and R.J. Wilson played key roles in Edwardsville's Friday night win over Salem in the semifinals of the 67th Salem Invitational tournament, a win that sent the Tigers to a sixth straight encounter with Centralia in the tournament's final Saturday night.
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Marinko led the Tigers with 26 points and Wilson had 10 points and 10 rebounds to help the Tigers to the win; the following night, Centralia defeated Edwardsville 76-53 to win the championship, only the second time the Orphans have downed the Tigers in the last six title games.
In the win against Salem, Edwardsville threw a shutout in the third quarter, something that proved to be key to the win. “I thought our third quarter was one of our best quarters of the year,” Marinko said. “We took everything they try to do away and then we took care of the ball and scored on offense; that closed the door on them right there. That was huge.”
The Tigers didn't know that they had thrown a shutout in the third period until the end of the period. “Not really until the end of the quarter,” Marinko said of when the Tigers knew what they had accomplished. “We just tried to keep our defensive scheme going.
“Coach (Mike) Waldo put up a good game plan for us and we just followed through with it and it all worked out. I thought we limited them to one shot down there and we took a shot from our end; R.J. had a lot of hustle plays.”
“We went into the locker room at halftime and changed up our defensive scheme,” Wilson said of what led to the third-quarter shutout. “Coach Waldo's great; his teaching worked.
“In the third quarter, I double-teamed (Caleb Strohmeier's) man basically the whole time (Cord Brown) – I don't think he touched the ball in the third quarter. We shut him down and that made a big difference in the game.
“I feel that we played very well and it's a big team win, a good confidence-builder as well.”
