EDWARDSVILLE – Belleville West's Malachi Smith may well had been the difference in Saturday night's finale of the SWC @ the E basketball showcase at SIUE's Sam Vadalebene Center.
Get The Latest News!
Don't miss our top stories and need-to-know news everyday in your inbox.
Smith led the Maroons with 20 points and came up with plenty of big rebounds throughout the game as the Maroons defeated Edwardsville 67-43 to send the Tigers to 2-1 on the season, 0-1 in the league; the Maroons improved to 4-1 overall, 1-0 in the SWC.
“We executed a lot of things well defensively,” said Tiger coach Mike Waldo. “We did a lot of the things we were trying; I thought our guys played hard defensively – we just had trouble getting a rebound once we made a miss. I thought (Smith) really hurt us on the offensive boards, especially the first half. The first half, his offensive rebounding was the difference in the game – that's how we got behind.
“I thought we did execute a lot of things well defensively; it was just of matter of getting a rebound once we made a miss.”
“He had a great game,” Maroon coach Joe Muniz said of Smith. “I thought the key was tonight – well, Jack Marinko's a heck of a player. He reminds me of a kid I had 4-5 years ago, Nick Van Osdale – he ran his head off just to keep his team in the game – and I think Malachi started off on (Marinko), but I think our depth and our ability to rotate fresh guys on him throughout the game was key.
“Malachi hit some big shots and took the ball to the rim, but more importantly, man, he got some offensive rebounds, and that's something with his size (6-3, 195) – he's a load.”
West's E.J. Liddell was also a factor in the outcome; the 6-7 junior ended up with 14 points and created some matchup issues thanks to his skill set. “He's got a lot of skill and he's an athlete,” Waldo said. “They put him in really good situations to have an opportunity to have some success – he does a real good job.
“I thought R.J. Wilson and (Caleb) Strohmeier did a real good job against him, making it real hard for him to score – he's hard to play against.”
West got out to a 14-11 lead at quarter time and then slowly built the lead up, getting to 35-23 at the half and then to 51-33 at three-quarter time; Lawrence Brazil III also added 11 points for the Maroons, while Marinko led he scoring for the Tigers with 22 points; Strohmeier added 11 points for the Tigers.
Besides Alton's win over Granite City, O'Fallon defeated Collinsville 57-52 and East St. Louis downed Belleville East 62-52.
Next up for EHS is a 7:30 p.m. Tuesday road game at Belleville East before hosting Collinsville at 7:30 p.m. Friday.
