ALTON – Alton’s boys’ basketball squad ended up with a successful basketball season overall this year, posting 16 wins, with 12 defeats, with a difficult schedule.
Alton advanced to the regional championship, until losing to Edwardsville 66-53, the state’s top-rated team. This year, Alton marked its fourth consecutive winning season. The Redbirds won two games in the regional, beating Granite City 74-40, then a top-notch Quincy team 53-43, before facing the Tigers.
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Head coach Eric Smith said he thought it was a solid season for his Redbirds.
“I think it was a success,” Coach Smith said. “The teams that we lost to were quality basketball teams. I don’t think that we had a bad loss. The losses that we had - I think that there’s maybe one or two teams that weren’t state ranked or received votes or in the rankings.”
Coach Smith and Athletic Director Jeff Alderman wants the Redbird boys to play a tough schedule each year.
“Obviously, it would be nice to say you won 25 games every year, but I think that our expectation is that we get an opportunity to win a regional, and I think our schedule prepared us for that. It obviously didn’t work out in the championship, but playing a tough schedule, and playing the teams that we do in our non-conference and tournaments prepared us for Edwardsville.
“So, I think our overall season was a success.”
As for the Redbirds, junior starter Kevin Caldwell Jr. will be returning for his senior season, along with some other solid returnees, and the future looks good for Alton boys’ basketball next year. Others back will be juniors Rashad Williams, Jonathan Bumpers, Darrell Smith and sophomore Donovan Clay. Clay became a starter during the season and is a valuable returnee for next season.
“We have some kids back, we got some good young kids,” Smith said. “So, they’ll get a little time off, and then the off-season starts.”
