GRANITE CITY – Two of the surprise teams in the Southwestern Conference so far this season came together at Granite City’s Memorial Gym Friday night.
Alton and Granite City both entered the game at 2-0 in the league after the Redbirds surprised East St. Louis and downed O’Fallon while the Warriors upended the Panthers and rallied to beat Belleville West. It was a much-anticipated early showdown, and the game more than lived up to the hype.
In the end, Alton got 22 points from Marcus Latham and 18 from Donovan Clay as the Redbirds held off the Warriors 65-59.
Memorial Gym’s student sections were packed tight, with the Redbirds Nest and The Tribe – the student support groups – both into the game from the start, something Redbird coach Eric Smith appreciated. “We had a good following, they had a good following,” Smith said, “it was a great atmosphere for a high-school basketball game. It was fun; both teams kind of traded traded punches and I thought, for the most part, both teams played a fairly clean game except for the foul trouble in the beginning.”
The Redbirds jumped out to a 17-6 lead at one point in the opening term and was seemingly about to run the Warriors out of their building when Granite fought back, forging a 17-17 tie and even taking a slight lead before the period ended with the score tied 21-21. The Redbirds’ style of play – a fast, aggressive approach – got them into foul trouble quickly; they wound up reaching 10 first-half fouls before quarter time.
“We run into foul trouble quite a bit because of our style of play,” Smith said, “but it was a bit more than what we’re accustomed to. It is what it is.”
“That’s their brand of basketball; that’s their style,” said Warrior coach Steve Roustio. “They’re good at it; they’ve been good at it for a very long time. We’ve been giving up 40 points a game and Alton had 65 tonight. That just goes to show you the game was just too much up-and-down, too fast of a pace.
“We needed to slow it down. But our kids need to understand that slowing it down doesn’t mean go four corners and stall, it doesn’t mean we’re going to pass 10-15 times; it just means we’re going to be a little bit more patient on offense, make them play defense a little bit longer so they can’t get the ball 65 times a game.”
Undaunted by the even score at quarter time, the Redbirds kept fighting and managed to forge a 39-32 lead at the half, but it was short-lived once the third term began, thanks to an eight-point Warrior run that tied the game again at 43. Both teams traded three-point shots to keep it even at 46, but the rest of the period was fairly even, the Redbirds managing to have a 51-49 lead at three-quarter time.
The Warriors opened the final period with a score to make it 51-51, but Alton came alive on back-to-back three-balls from Latham to take a 57-51 lead. Granite finally pulled back to cut the lead to 60-55, but could get no closer.
Maurice Edwards has 12 points for the Redbirds (5-1 overall, 3-0 SWC) and Kevin Caldwell 11; the Warriors (5-2 overall, 2-1 SWC) were led by Tre’ Allen’s 24 points, with Kenny Berry adding 15 and Ron Allen seven.
Both teams resume league play next weekend; the Redbirds host Collinsville while the Warriors travel to Edwardsville in their final games before the holidays.
