Weller Scores Season High 32 Points, Tigers Use Big Third Quarter Run To Defeat Roosevelt 56-36

EDWARDSVILLE - Junior forward Brennan Weller scored a season-high 32 points, and Edwardsville went on a 10-4 third-quarter run that helped decide the game as the Tigers went on to defeat St. Louis Roosevelt 56-36 in a game played Tuesday night at Lucco-Jackson Gym.

The Tigers led the Roughriders 25-13 at halftime before going off on the run at the start of the third quarter as the defense once again clamped down on the opposition's leading scorers, limiting their point totals in getting the win.

"I was worried about Roosevelt," said Edwardsville head coach Dustin Battas. "They've got some athletic guys (Justyn Boyd) averages 24 points a game, (Calieb Martin) averages 21 points a game, so it looks like we held (Boyd) to one point, which nobody's been able to do all year, and that's a credit to our guys. Jalil Roundtree did a great job on him most of the game, and Caleb Valentine just is kind of battling back from the flu; we were able to play him some tonight, and he did a great job guarding (Boyd) as well. Really impressed with our defense. When you've got two guys like they do that average 50 points combined, it's going to take a team effort to stop them, and I thought we did that."

The defense once again shined for the Tigers, which is a long-time Edwardsville trademark, and it's been one big reason why the team is now 14-7 on the season.

"Yeah, I think our guys feel good about where we're at," Battas said. "We're going to keep working, trying to get better every day. We are a team that tries to continue to make progress. I think we're a lot better now that we were a month ago, and we hope to be a lot better a month from now that we are right now. So, our guys like to practice, they like to compete, so we're going to keep working with them, and hope we can be playing our best basketball at the end of the season."

Weller's 32-point performance was his best of the season so far, and it also took a team effort to get Weller open shots that he was able to hit.

"We were able to get Brennan some space, especially in transition," Battas said, "which makes his life a little bit easier. We've had some other guys that have been making some baskets, and that opens up some more space for him, and I thought Jalil and Ethan (Young) were excellent at throwing assists, and drawing guys to them, and kicking to him for open shots. And of course, Brennan's spends a lot of time in practice working on his shots and making them. So we were happy he had a good game for us tonight."

Near the end, the Tigers were able to get their reserves playing time, and whenever a bench player hit a big shot, the entire bench jumped up and cheered for him heartily.

"Yeah, our guys really like each other," Battas said, "and as a coach, that really makes me feel really good. They like each other, they cheer for each other, they have a mutual admiration for each other. Guys like Willie Thomas are invaluable, and we have some other great seniors that just have good hearts, and they really care about each other. As a coach, that's all you can ask for."

The game began with an exchange of three-point baskets by Jack Nafziger of the Tigers and Andre Cooper of the Roughriders before Nic Hemken hit from inside to give Edwardsville a 5-3 lead. Weller's first basket of the night, along with a pair of free throws, extended the lead to 9-3, and after an exchange of baskets, a three and an inside basket from Weller made the score 16-5 for Edwardsville at the end of the first quarter.

A pair of baskets from D.J. Mitchell at the start of the second quarter cut the lead to 16-9 before another Weller basket made it 18-9. An exchange of threes brought the score to 21-12, and after a free throw from Mitchell, Weller scored twice from inside to make the score 25-13, which is where the score stood at halftime.

Malik Leggette hit a free throw to start the second half before Roundtree hit on a three-point play, a three and a pair of free throws from Weller, a basket from Young and another basket from Weller, sandwiched around a Richard Lewis three, made it 34-17, forcing the Roughriders to call time out. Free throws from Weller and Roundtree. along with a Roundtree three and a basket from Weller, climaxed a 7-2 run that made the score 41-19 before a pair of free throws from Damontay Jones made the score 41-21 at the end of the third quarter.

The two teams exchanged free throws to start the fourth quarter to make ii 42-23 before a three from Weller made it 45-23, and the two teams exchanged points the remainder of the quarter as the Tigers went on to the 56-36 win.

Besides Weller, Roundtree scored seven points and Nafziger added six to help lead Edwardsville, while Martin led the Roughriders with 10 points, Mitchell had seven points and Lewis had six points.

The Tigers return to Southwestern Conference play on Friday night when they host Belleville West in a rematch from Dec, 6, in which the Maroons won 37-25. Battas and his team is looking ahead to the rematch at home.

"We are," Battas said. "We had a chance to beat them at their place earlier in the year. I think our guys are looking forward to another opportunity, I think our guys are confident that we're better than we were; of course, they're probably better than they were they last time we saw them, too. So it'll be a physical game, it's a Southwestern Conference game. Hopefully, we can carry over our good defense, and just make a few more baskets than we did last time, and get a conference win."

Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.

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