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ALTON - Ja'markus Gary led Alton with 13 points, while Ky'Lun Rivers added 10 and Moory Woods eight as the Redbirds won its Senior Night game with a 43-40 win over Edwardsville Friday night at the Redbirds Nest.
It was a close game throughout, with the Tigers having a hard time hitting their shots, thanks mainly to a strong defensive effort from Alton.
"We played good, we just had a hard time making our shots," said Edwardsville head coach Dustin Battas. "Alton played really strong defense. We were still able to get some shots, but a lot of them were closely guarded."
Brennan Weller, who had a career-high 34 points earlier this month against the Redbirds, scored 17 to lead the Tigers, while Jack Nafziger had eight.
It was a close game throughout, with a Redbird lead as high as seven in the fourth quarter, and as low as one. A Rivers lay-in gave Alton a 36-29 lead with 2:50 left, but the Tigers rallied to within 36-35 when Nic Hemken scored with 1:28 to go.
Free throws from both teams, the final ones from Jake Lombardi with 5.1 seconds left made it 43-40, and a Weller three at the buzzer bounced away to give the Redbirds the win.
The Tigers competed well and hung in there, having a chance to tie and possibly win at the end.
"I thought our guys competed hard," Battas said. "We knew that winning at Alton was going to be hard, and we will just try to practice well on Sunday and get ready for O'Fallon. We had a chance to win the game at the end, and they made just one more three than we did."
The Redbirds are now 12-15 and conclude the regular season on the road, starting with a game at Taylorville Saturday night, then finishing the Southwestern Conference schedule with games on Tuesday night at Belleville West and next Friday night at O'Fallon.
The Tigers are now 21-8 and finish the regular season as well next week, starting with a road game at O'Fallon on Tuesday, and celebrate their Senior Night next Friday at home against Belleville East. All games start at 7:30 p.m.
"We know all the games left are difficult," Battas said, "but we will just keep practicing good, and try to stay competitive."Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.
