EDWARDSVILLE - O'Fallon's senior center Eaton Smith and sophomore guard Rini Harris scored 13 points each and O'Fallon, who led by as much as 20, held off a very good comeback bid by Edwardsville to defeat the Tigers 51-36 in a Southwestern Conference basketball game played Friday night at Lucco-Jackson Gym.
Get The Latest News!
Don't miss our top stories and need-to-know news everyday in your inbox.
After Edwardsville took a 10-9 lead at the end of the first quarter, the Panthers went on runs at the start of the three remaining quarters to take or further extend the lead, and had enough to hold off the Tigers.
Edwardsville kept battling to the final buzzer, a great testament to the team's effort on the evening.
"A lot of it comes down to O'Fallon is good and they're a talented and well-coached team," said Tigers head coach Dustin Battas. "So the room for error is small, they had a few runs where we missed a shot, they got a run out and a lay-up, we turned it over and they got a lay-up, so it's hard to set your defense against them. And we knew we were going to have to play somewhat mistake-free; we just made a few too many mistakes. Our guys know that. I told them we're a lot further along from where we were the last time we played them. I think the big difference now is that our guys know before I even tel them the mistake that they made, they recognize it now. They know that to beat a team that's good, we've got to make less mistakes and play our best game. We just didn't play our best game tonight, but they had a lot to do with that, because they're really good."
The Tigers were led in their fourth quarter rally by a pair of threes from Alec Marchetto and another three from Zach Hoffmann to help the Tigers come to within 48-34 late in the fourth, but it would be as close as Edwardsville would come.
"Making threes always helps," said Battas, "and making those threes is what got us back into the game there. It's just a game of consistency, and we've had some moments this year where thing were great, executing things well, and we had some moments tonight where we executed some things well. And we've had some moments of inconsistency and not being able to get into our offense, not getting the right guys guarded. So we were there and I think our guys are optimistic that eventually, we can beat a team like that. And they know we've just got to play a little bit better than we did tonight."
The compete level for both teams was on a very high level, which is always good to see, as both teams played a scrappy style, going after loose balls and playing defense with intensity.
"They're athletic and physical," Battas said. "And it was a physical game, there's wasn't very many fouls called, so the teams were battling hard and competing. So I thought our guys did that, but we're not going to win many games due to physicality or athleticism. We're going to have to execute a little bit better than we did tonight."
The Tigers were able to dictate the pace in the first quarter, which helped them gain their lead at the end of the period,
"I thought our first quarter, we executed a lot of things we've been practicing," Battas said. "We wanted to make them guard us in the quarter-court, run our sets, run our actions. And they're hard to guard because of their size and athleticism. So we thought if we could get a good shot at the basket every time we had it and be able to set our defense to prevent them from getting run-outs, we'd have a chance. And we did that in the first quarter and then started to turn it over in the second quarter and couldn't set our defense like we wanted to. And that was the difference in their run and how they got the lead."
The Panthers were able to make the adjustments and came out aggressively in the second quarter, and it was the point where O'Fallon took over the game.
"We did," said Panthers head coach Brian Muniz. "They came out in a little zone, we hit a couple of shots. But it was just the pace of the game was pretty slow in the first quarter and we wanted to get the pace up a little bit and we did. We got going a little bit in the second quarter, our defense was great for all three quarters."
Muniz felt his players came out with more energy to quicken the pace of the game, which was to O'Fallon's advantage.
"It's an energy thing," Muniz said. "You saw our guys, we had a lot of tipped balls, we got our hands up, we ran and jumped a little bit just to get them going and tried to get them uncomfortable and just not let them run their offense, because they run such a good offense. So we wanted to make it difficult for them; I think we did that. At the end, they hit a couple of threes, but for the most part, we did a good job."
Smith, Harris and Tre Gilliam all played well on the inside and it helped the Panthers open things up on the outside during their runs.
"They did," Muniz said. "We didn't shoot the ball real well and as I told our guys, that was just a solid effort without shooting the ball well. And those guys came through, they went after rebound. We've been working on getting the ball inside to our guys more, because our guards haven't been real good at it. And you could see tonight that practice paid off."
The runs at the start of the final three quarters proved to be the biggest difference in the game for the Panthers.
"We did," Muniz said. "And we know they don't score real fast, and so, we thought if we could the beginning of the fourth, we could extend our lead a little bit, they were going to have a hard time coming back. And we did, and our guys came out with energy and they did that."
To Edwardsville's credit, the Tigers hung in and managed to rally, but in the end, the runs that the Panthers had at the start of the three remaining quarters spelled the difference.
"Like I said, first quarter, it was just a give-and-take game," Muniz said, "they had some shots, we had some shots. And then, as the game went on, we got a little bit better. They didn't give up, they kept running their stuff, and they finally hit some shots at the end and brought it back closer to us. They fought all game too."
Harris drained a three to get the game started, with a Smith basket and three-point play giving O'Fallon an 8-3 lead early on. A free throw from Gilliam increased the lead to 9-3, with the Tigers going on a 7-0 lead to close out the period as Malik Allen hit a three and Isayah Kloster scored twice, the second basket coming before the buzzer to give Edwardsville a 10-9 lead at the end of the quarter.
Caleb Burton scored to give the Panthers the lead back at 11-10 when the second quarter started, and it triggered a 9-0 O'Fallon run to start the period, with a three by Tyler Lunning and baskets by Smith making the score 18-10 for the Panthers. After an Edwardsville time out, an Allen basket brought the score back to 18-12, but the Panthers outscored the Tigers the remainder of quarter 7-2 as Harris scored twice and Lunning also scored of a steal and breakaway to help the Panthers take a 25-14 lead at halftime.
Jalen Smith scored the first five points of the second half for O'Fallon on a three-point play and a pair of free throws to up the Panther lead to 30-14, and after a Bryce Spiller basket that brought Edwardsville to within 30-16, baskets from Gilliam and Lunning upped the O'Fallon lead to 34-16. Jordan Bush scored twice for Edwardsville to bring the Tigers to within 34-20 at the end of the period.
The Panthers went on their final run at the start of the fourth quarter, reeling off the quarter's first eight points behind Harris, Lunning and Smith to make it 42-20. The Tigers started a rally, going on a 12-4 run behind threes from Allen, Marchetto and Hoffmann to make it 46-32. The Panthers scored five of the game's final nine points to make the final 51-36.
Along with Harris and Smith, Lunning scored nine points for O'Fallon, with Jalen Smith hitting for eight points, Caleb Burton and Jayelyn Jaye both had two points and Donnie Whitfield had a single point. Kloster led the Tigers with eight points, while Allen and Marchetto each netted six points, Bush hit for five points, Spiller scored four points and both Iose Epenesa and Jake Siebers had two points each.
O'Fallon is now 20-4 on the season and play at Granite City on Monday at 7:30 p.m., then host Springfield Lanphier in their Shootout next Friday at 8 p.m., then meet Bolingbrook next Saturday evening in a 5 p.m. tip. The Tigers go to 10-13 and host three home games next week, playing Madison on Monday, Bishop DuBourg Catholic of St. Louis City on Wednesday in a make-up game and Belleville East next Friday, with all three games starting at 7:30 p.m.Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.
