Weller Scores 34 Points, Woods 19, Jones 15 As Edwardsville Defeats Alton In Overtime Thriller 59-56

EDWARDSVILLE - Brennan Weller scored a career-high 34 points, while Alton's Moory Woods scored 19 points and Andrew Jones 15, but it was Edwardsville who pulled out the win, taking a 59-56 thriller in overtime in a Southwestern Conference game Thursday night at Lucco-Jackson Gym.

The Redbirds came from behind in the fourth quarter after trailing most of the game to tie the game up on a Ky'Lun Rivers basket in the lane with 58.5 seconds left in regulation 44-44, but the Tigers outscored Alton 15-12 in the overtime, with the Redbirds again rallying, but Jones missed a game-tying three before the buzzer to preserve Edwardsville's win.

Both teams gave a great effort the entire game, and both coaches were proud of their teams after the game.

"I think our guys really played hard tonight," said Edwardsville head coach Dustin Battas, "and really made a lot of plays in overtime to win the game. It's evident that our guys really care about, a lot of 50-50 balls, a lot of rebounds, and just proud of our guys, happy for them that they were able to win tonight."

Battas tipped his cap to Alton for their efforts and their comeback.

"Yeah, Alton's good, and they play hard," Battas said, "and they've got some guys that can really do some stuff. They've got some fast guys, and guys that can shoot. Coach (Dana) Morgan puts them into good spots, where you have to come a long way to help. So we are really happy to get that win tonight, and it may be one of our best wins of the year."

Battas also gave praise to the efforts and both Woods and Jones for their games.

"Yeah, we knew (Woods) and (Jones) were really good," Battas said. "We knew they could score, and (Woods) is really physical, and he's strong under the basket. We weren't perfect on defense, certainly, we pride ourselves on defense, and we had a few lapses, but some of that is just because of the speed of them. Also, with the weather yesterday, we weren't able to have practice yesterday, so Mother Nature had a little bit of a role with that. But, certainly, we weren't perfect on defense, but they have a lot to do wit that, because they're fast and they're good."

Weller extended his streak of scoring 20 or more points to four games and continues to have the hot hand. In fact, he scored all but four of the Tigers' points in the first half.

"Brennan's doing a great job of taking what the defense gives him," Battas said. "We knew he had 34, but he doesn't force shots, he doesn't shoot bad shots. I thought Nic (Hemken) did a really good job of getting him open, and Jalil Roundtree hasn't had the ball for a long time, waiting for Brennan to cut, so I don't know how many assists Jalil had tonight, but he certainly had one of his better games. And Brennan will be the first to tell you that he gets 34, but our guys do a great job of getting him open, and executing the things we want them to, and they way they were guarding tonight, we were able to get Brennan open, and they decided they were going guard Jack (Nafziger), and stay closer to some of the other guys, so that's what the defense gave us, and Brennan was able to execute."

Morgan was also very happy with his team's efforts, and is very proud of his players.

"I thought it was a good game," Morgan said. "It was two teams, kind of evenly matched, and it came down to making plays. I think we missed some free throws early in the game, kind of put ourselves in the hole, but I'm proud of my kids for fighting back. We played hard, and just at the end of the game, Edwardsville made some plays that we didn't, but we have to keep fighting. We've got a tough game tomorrow night on the road, and we've just got to keep playing hard."

The game, originally scheduled for Jan. 17, was postponed twice, including the original make-up date of Wednesday, because of snowy weather that pushed through the area, but Morgan felt the postponements didn't affect how the game was played.

"It didn't affect anything," Morgan said. "Our kids were ready to play, we let them know last night that the game's probably going to be today, and I wasn't opposed to playing two games back-to-back. We've got to get the game in, and I don't think it had an effect on either one of the teams. I think both teams played hard, I thought it was a good game, it was a well-officiated game, and they made the right plays at the end."

It was indeed a great fightback for the Redbirds, who trailed much of the game before forcing overtime and almost forcing a second overtime.

"That's what we do," Morgan said. "We play hard, our guys, we're not going to go away. We've just got to do the little things, just make some easy plays."

Both Woods and Jones played great games, and Morgan praised them both.

"They did," Morgan said. "I thought we played well, we've just got to make some easier shots, we've got to do some different things. We have to look forward to tomorrow."

Weller hit the first basket of the game for the Tigers, but Woods countered with a three to give the Redbirds an early lead, which became 5-2 when Ja'markus Gary hit inside. Baskets from Roundtree and Weller gave the Tigers the lead back at 6-5 before Weller scored on a three-point play, and hit on three more baskets in a row to make it 15-5 before Rivers scored before the end of the quarter to make it 15-7 for Edwardsville after one quarter.

The teams exchanged baskets to open the second quarter before Woods hit a three to cut the Edwardsville lead to 17-12. Weller drove the lane for another basket, then banked home another shot to make it 21-12, with Rivers then scoring and Woods hitting another three to cut the lead again to 21-17. A late Roundtree basket gave the Tigers a 23-17 lead at halftime.

Weller started the second half with a bank shot basket to make it 25-17, but a pair of free throws from Gary made cut the lead back to six. Baskets by Roundtree and Caleb Valentine increased the Tiger lead to 29-19, but baskets from Gary and Jones cut the lead back to 29-23. The teams exchanged threes before a Jones drive cut the lead to 32-28. A Weller basket and a three from Jones made it 34-31 for Edwardsville at the end of the third quarter.

After a Weller free throw to start the fourth quarter, Woods came back to hit inside to make it 35-33, and free throws from Ethan Young and a Jones basket made it 37-35. The Tigers were able to make it 41-37, and another exchange of baskets brought the score to 43-39. Free throws by the Redbirds brought the score to 43-42, but another free throw from Weller made the score 44-42 for the Tigers late, when Jones drove the lane and scored in the final minute to tie the game at 44-44. Edwardsville held for the final shot, calling time out with 6.6 seconds left, but Weller missed the shot, and a desperation heave at the buzzer fell short, keeping the score tied 44-44 and going into overtime.

At the start of the overtime, a pair of Weller free throws and a second-chance basket by Hemken gave the Tigers the lead at 48-44. A Jones drive cut the lead to two at 48-46, but the Tigers were able to hit seven-of-10 free throws to Alton's two to make it 55-48. A three-point play from Jones cut the lead to 55-51 with 27.3 seconds left, but another free throw from 56-51. Woods then hit a three to make it 56-54 with 19 seconds left. A Weller free throw with 18.2 seconds to up the lead to three before a Woods drive cut the lead to 57-56, but Woods missed the free throw on the play which would have tied it again. Two free throws from Hemken made it 59-56, but Jones had a great look at the basket before the buzzer and let fly the shot, but it rimmed out, and the Tigers recovered the rebound to preserve the 59-56 win.

The Redbirds are now 11-13 on the year and play at Belleville East tomorrow, then are at Collinsville next Friday, while the Tigers upped their winning streak to seven and are now 17-7 for the year. Edwardsville is at East St. Louis Friday night, are at St. Louis McKinley Feb. 11 and host Mascoutah next Friday. Battas is feeling very good about his team as the stretch run is about to start.

"Well, I feel great right now," Battas said. "I've got some adrenaline pumping. I think we've won seven in a row, so I think our guys are in a good spot, we're looking forward to going to East St. Louis tomorrow. There's nothing easy in the Southwestern Conference. This will be a good road test for us. We're just hoping to improve every day, and keep winning these close games. I'm just really proud of our guys, and I thought it was a total team effort, and this is just a really good group of guys to work with, and we are fortunate to have such guys who play so hard, and like each other."

Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.

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