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EAST ST. LOUIS – The Edwardsville High boys basketball team started off strong, taking an early lead against East St. Louis, but 18 points from Armond Williams and 14 points from Jashawn Anderson helped the Flyers defeat the Tigers 72-36 Friday night in a Southwestern Conference game at the East St. Louis High gym.
The Tigers got off to a 10-3 lead in the first four minutes before East Side came back to take a 14-12 lead at quarter time and a 30-18 halftime lead in getting the win.
“We got off to a good start, we made some shots and they didn’t,” said Edwardsville coach Dustin Battas, “and we executed a lot of things well. In the second half, they made some shots, made some tough threes, and their length and athleticism made it hard for us to get the ball around the basket.”
Jaylon Tuggle led the Tigers with 12 points, while Brennan Weller had eight, as the Tigers did many good things, but faced a very difficult opponent on the road once again.
“East Side is really good, and really well coached,” Battas said, “and it was a hard game for us on the road. But we’re looking forward to competing again next week.”
Tuggle started the Tigers off well by scoring the game’s first five points, on a three on the side and a nifty drive to the hoop to make it 5-0 in the opening minute. Anderson hit a free throw before Weller scored on a reverse lay up to make it 7-1, then after a Terrance Hargrove, Jr. basket, A.J. Roberson hit a three to make it 10-3 with 4:17 left in the opening term, forcing East Side to call time. After the time out, the Flyers responded with a three from Anderson, but a Malik Robinson basket made it 12-6 for Edwardsville. East Side then scored the period’s last eight points, as Anderson scored, Elijah Rice hit a three on the side and Anderson hit another three up top to give the Flyers a 14-12 lead at quarter time.
Weller got a good pass inside at the start of the second term to tie the game 14-14, but a Hargrove dunk and a Carlton King three at the top of the key made it 19-14 for the Flyers. Hargrove then scored twice and Rice had a basket in between to extend the East Side lead to 25-14 before Tuggle scored inside to cut the lead to 25-16. The Flyers outscored the Tigers 5-2 to make the score 30-18 at halftime.
The Flyers then dominated the third quarter, outscoring Edwardsville 26-14 in the term, as East Side went six-from-eight from three-point range to help extend its lead to 56-32. The Tigers kept battling throughout, and Battas was very proud of their efforts.
“We’re proud of out guys,” Battas said. “We thought they tried hard, they competed and they wanted to win.”
The Flyers outscored the Tigers 16-4 in the final quarter to make the 72-36 final.
Edwardsville, now 6-16 on the season, goes on the road for a pair next week, going to St. Louis to play Soldan International Studies in a 6:15 p.m. tip, then go to Mascoutah to face the Indians in a 7:30 p.m. tip. The Tigers have only played once at home since before the holidays, and won’t play at home again until Feb. 12 against Collinsville. Battas and his staff are very proud of the team for the way they’ve handled the difficult schedule.
“We’ve had a lot of hard road games in January,” Battas said, “and we’re proud of the way of how our guys do battle and handled the adversity.”
Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.
