Get The Latest News!
Don't miss our top stories and need-to-know news everyday in your inbox.
EDWARDSVILLE – Senior guard Aaron Norman scored 24 points and David Jones added 15 as Gateway STEM of St. Louis used a big third quarter, outscoring Edwardsville 21-9 to help defeat the Tigers 72-57 in a non-conference boys basketball game played Tuesday night at Lucco-Jackson Gym.
Edwardsville did fight back to within six at 63-57 with 1:10 remaining in regulation, but the Jaguars went seven-for-ten at the free throw line to help seal the win.
The Tigers expected a big challenge from Gateway, one of the highest scoring teams in the St. Louis area this season.
“Those guys have scored 100 points five times this year, and they’re averaging about 80 points a game,” said Edwardsville coach Dustin Battas, “so we knew they were going to be good. We talked to our guys; ‘this is still Edwardsville. We’re going to get everybody’s best shot. No one feels sorry for us, we’re going to get everybody’s best shot.’ I really thought we prepared well, we practiced well. We really miss Nic (Hemken); Nic’s out with the flu, he just does so many little things, and he’s really, really committed to defensive rebounding. I just thought we had a really hard time guarding it tonight, and also missed some shots around the rim.”
Gateway took control of the game in the third after a very evenly played first half in which neither team led by more than six.
“At halftime, we really talked about taking care of the ball,” Battas said. “We thought we had some guys open in the first half that we just missed. Our passing was not good, and we’re an assist team. If we’re going to score baskets, a lot of them are going to come off the pass, especially with the style that we play. And we had a hard time converting that, very similar to Belleville West, turned it over and can’t get back. And then you lose (Ikel Sevier) in transition, who’s one of the top guys in St. Louis as far as scoring per game goes. So, you know, a multitude of things. They’re good, but we really would have liked to execute a little bit better.”
That the Tigers clawed back to within six near the end is a very positive sign.
“Yeah, we’ve talked all year,” Battas said. “We’ve got good kids, they try hard, they’re committed. We’ve just had a really hard time piecing four quarters together, and like I said, executing the things that we’ve practiced. So we’ll make a few changes. We need to practice a little bit differently, put some heat on some of our more experienced guys, make practice a little bit tougher for them, so they can start seeing things in practice, and as coaches, that’s our job to put them in positions where can do better.”
And Edwardsville has some players in new roles from the previous season, and the confidence level might not be there yet.
“I think so; it’s a lot of new guys doing new jobs,” Battas said, “and we have guys that work hard every day, and they do what we ask them to do. But sometimes in a game, I think they get a little overwhelmed because they want to do so well, and they get nervous, and they panic a little bit, and we have gotten better at that. But it’s a blessing and a curse. We have really good guys of high character, and they almost put too much pressure on themselves, and it ends up hurting them. We’re just trying to build them up, coach the mistakes and point out the positives. Our schedule’s so tough like you talk about the confidence. We win a few in a row at Jerseyville, then you’ve got to go to Alton and Belleville West, I can’t imagine a team in the state that has to go on the road; we’ve played one home game in January. So we ask a lot out of them, and it’s been a really big challenge. So if they’re a little fragile mentally, that’s probably more our fault, because of the situations we’ve been in with the schedule, and just how good our league is. So we’ll keep working.”
The game started out very evenly, with both sides trading baskets before the Tigers went on the first run of the night, going on a 10-4 run through a three from A.J. Robertson, a basket from Brennan Weller and another three from Lavontas Hairston to give Edwardsville a 14-9 lead. Norman countered with a three of his own to cut the lead to 14-12, and the two teams traded baskets at the end, with a Matt Stopka free throw making it 17-14 Tigers at quarter time.
The teams traded basket for basket in the second quarter, with the lead shifting many times. A Sevier drive to the hoop gave the Jaguars their first lead at 20-19, but Hairston got a great pass inside to score and give the Tigers the lead right back. A Weller three extended the lead to 24-20, but a Jernaud Sykes basket and a long-distance three from Norman gave Gateway the lead right back at 25-24. Jackson Weller came right back with a three of his own to put Edwardsville back in front, but a three from Thomas Frye gave the Jaguars a 28-27 lead at halftime.
Jason Banks hit a free throw at the start of the second half to make it 29-27 before a Malik Robinson drive tied the game at 29-29. The Jaguars hit back-to-back threes from both Sevier and Norman to give Gateway a 35-29 lead before a Jaylon Tuggle three cut the lead in half. With the score then 36-34, Gateway went on a 13-2 run, getting baskets from Norman and Sevier, a free throw from Jones and an NBA three from Sevier to give the Jaguars a 49-36 lead after three.
Gateway extended their advantage to 53-39 early in the fourth quarter, then Jason Banks hit four straight free throws to make it 57-39. Later on, with the score 61-47, the Tigers went on a 10-2 run, getting a basket from Brennan Weller, a three from Jalil Roundtree, and baskets from Weller and Roundtree to cut the lead to 63-57 with 1:10 to go in regulation. Norman and Jones both hit key free throws in the final minute to give the Jaguars their 72-57 win.
Brennan Weller led the way for the Tigers with 15 points, while Roundtree had eight and Jackson Weller seven.
The Tigers, now 6-15 on the year, next go on the road to East St. Louis Friday night, then travel to St. Louis to play Soldan International Studies next Tuesday, with tip-off times being 7:30 p.m. Edwardsville won’t practice on Wednesday, due to classes being canceled in the wake of the Polar Vortex arriving in the St. Louis area on Wednesday, but the team will be ready to go on Friday night.
“We go to East Side on Friday, so the last three conference games, we go to Alton, we go to Belleville West, and now, go to East St. Louis,” Battas said. “And there’s no wavering. It doesn’t do us any good to feel sorry for ourselves with who we’re playing. We have guys that like to compete, so we’ll put a good game plan together for East Side, and practice well on Thursday. We were up 10 against East St. Louis at Collinsville, so our guys believe in what we’re doing, and they believe in each other, and we really like our guys.”
Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.
