EDWARDSVILLE - Alton junior forward Dante' Herrin had a brilliant second quarter, in which he scored all 13 of his points to help give the Redbirds the halftime lead, but O'Fallon took charge in the third quarter, going on a 16-5 run to start the quarter, then held off a fourth quarter comeback attempt by Alton to win the first semifinal of the IHSA Class 4A Edwardsville regional 63-52 Tuesday evening at Lucco-Jackson Gym.
Get The Latest News!
Don't miss our top stories and need-to-know news everyday in your inbox.
The win advances the Panthers to Friday night's final against the host Tigers, who defeated Quincy in the second semifinal, but the Redbirds played very hard and gave a great effort against O'Fallon.
"I'm proud of their effort," said Alton head coach Dana Morgan. "We just had a tough stretch in the third quarter, and I thought we started taking some quick shots. I thought we were really patient, and it just kind of got away from us. I think we played hard, I think we fought back, it's a six-point game, we've got the ball in the right guy's hands, we just didn't make the shot. But I'm just proud of our guys; they kept fighting, and it just didn't go our way. We've got to give credit to O'Fallon, they're a good basketball team, and they executed and they did what they needed to do."
Herrin took over in the second quarter and helped lead the Redbirds to a two-point lead at halftime with an incredible display, scoring from all over the floor.
"He was, he was," Morgan said. "I thought he was really good, he was playing hard. Dante's a really good player, and he's going to be a key player for us next year."
Although Alton held the lead at the half, the Panthers came out of the blocks in the third quarter, going on the run that helped eventually decide the game.
"I just thought we didn't make enough plays in the third quarter," Morgan said. "It's hard to keep fighting back, but it's just the game got away from us in the third quarter."
The Redbirds rallied back to pull within six in the fourth quarter, but couldn't get any closer as O'Fallon used good free throw shooting to put the game away.
"Credit to them," Morgan said. "I'm just proud of my guys. It's a tough locker room for us right now, but I'm proud to be with these guys."
The first quarter was a see-saw affair, with Logan Lowery hitting a three to open the scoring, but Camren Edwards converting a three-point play to make the score 3-3 in the opening two minutes. Lowery hit another three after an exchange of baskets, and after a Ky'Lun Rivers free throw, the Panthers scored eight of the period's last 10 points, with a three from Chris Porter, a basket from Caleb Burton and another three from Porter, all sandwiched around a Lonnie Tate basket, to give O'Fallon a 16-8 lead after the first quarter.
Herrin then began to take over the game, scoring the second quarter's first six points to cut the lead to 16-14. After another exchange of baskets, a pair of free throws from Moory Woods tied the game at 18-18, and after a basket from Shaun Riley II, Herrin hit a three on the side to give the Redbirds their first lead at 21-20. A Burton free throw and basket gave the Panthers the lead back, but from Herrin and Woods gave Alton the lead back at 25-23, which is where the score stood at halftime after both teams missed before the buzzer.
A three from Porter and a Dawson Algee score gave the Panthers a 28-25 lead to start the second half, and after a driving basket from Rivers cut the lead to one, O'Fallon scored the next eight points, getting baskets from Algee and Burton and a three from Porter to take a 35-27 lead before a basket from Andrew Jones cut the lead to 35-30. The Panthers then scored a pair of baskets from Riley, along with another basket from Algee to go up 41-30, and after an exchange of points, a three-point play from Algee gave O'Fallon a 46-32 advantage after three quarters.
At the start of the fourth quarter, a Ja'markus Gary basket and free throws from Rivers cut the lead to 46-36, and after a pair of free throws from Algee, Gary hit a three to make it 48-39. After a Riley basket, a Rivers free throw and a basket from Burton put O'Fallon up 52-40, Rivers hit back-to-back baskets around a Panther free throw to cut the lead to 53-44, then hit a pair of free throws to make it 53-46. After a O'Fallon free throw, a Gary basket cut the lead to 54-48, and then stole an inbounds pass with 2:13 left, and had a chance to cut the lead further. But the shot wouldn't go down, and from there, the Panthers went six-of-nine from the line to help put the game away 63-52.
Rivers led the Redbirds with 18 points, while Herrin scored 13 points, all in the second quarter, Gary had seven points, Woods had four, Edwards three and both Jonathan Bolling and Tate scored two points each. Riley led O'Fallon with 14 points, while Burton scored 13 points, Porter had 12 points, both Algee and Lowery each had 11 points and Drew Tebbe scored two points.
The Panthers are now 25-6 and move on to Friday's final against the Tigers, who defeated Quincy 54-32, while the Redbirds were eliminated with a 13-18 record.Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.
