A.J. Epenesa with a slam dunk for Edwardsville.Mark Smith takes the ball to the basket for Edwardsville.EDWARDSVILLE – Edwardsville's basketball team came storming out of the gates Tuesday night against DeSmet.

The Tigers knew what was at stake and didn't want to leave anything to chance.

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Edwardsville got out to a 28-11 lead at quarter time, extended it to 52-20 at the half and went on to defeat the Spartans 73-52 to give their coach, Mike Waldo, his 700th career victory at Lucco-Jackson Gym.

The win put the Tigers at 21-1 on the season and dropped DeSmet to 9-12 on the year.

“I thought we executed a lot of good things early,” Waldo said. “I thought we passed the ball good early and A.J. (Epenesa) made a lot of good plays early in the game. I thought Caleb Strohmeier's defense was excellent and that helped us get a good start.

“We did a good job of taking what the defense gave us; we made points around the basket early and then A.J. did a good job later on of kicking it out and finding guys open. I thought Mark (Smith) had an excellent floor game. I thought Mark was very good defensively and he passed the ball excellently. He did a good job.

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Mark is a really, really good teammate,” Waldo said of Smith, who played in front of Kansas State coach Bruce Weber Tuesday. “He just practices good every day and just takes what the defense gives him in every game; he's an excellent teammate and he's done really good for us.”

Smith talked about the lessons he's learned from playing for Waldo. “Coach Waldo has always taught us to be tough,” Smith said. “You have to be tough and produce, no matter what you go through, always work hard no matter what the conditions. That's something I'll always take from coach Waldo.

“You always learn something from coach Waldo; he's so smart, he knows so much about basketball. He's helped my basketball IQ just learning stuff and becoming a better basketball player. He's such a good man for on and off the court; I respect coach Waldo so much for that. He's really helped me out a lot during my career and I really appreciate coming here; it's a blessing just to be able to play for coach Waldo.”

Smith felt the impending milestone gave the Tigers a little extra incentive going into the game. “We wanted to get him to 700 wins so he could make history tonight,” Smith said. “We just went out there and really did our same thing; we had an extra boost for this game but went out and executed.”

Smtih and Epenesa had 20 points each, with Epenesa getting 13 rebounds and Smith seven; Oliver Stephen added 16 points and Jack Marinko eight in the win; the Spartans were led by Ryan Stipanovich's nine points, with Michael Dunn and Brooks Ford getting seven each and Evan Asleson, Tommy Barton and Michael Skoff scoring six each.

The Tigers return to Southwestern Conference play at home Friday night when Granite City comes calling, then EHS hosts Collinsville Tuesday night and Alton Feb. 17.

Jack Marinko brings the ball down the floor for the Tigers.