COLLINSVILLE – Granite City had to come off the heartbreak of a buzzer-beating loss to Collinsville late Tuesday night to take on East St. Louis in the Prairie Farms Collinsville Holiday Classic’s seventh-place game at Fletcher Gym.
It wasn’t the easiest of assignments, and the Warriors found themselves trailing the Flyers 30-22 at the long break.
But Granite came alive in the third term, holding East Side to four points and grabbing a lead that they never gave up – though the Flyers made it close – in a 55-49 win.
Thursday’s win was Granite’s first one over East St. Louis since 2001 and it certainly was a first for Warrior coach Steve Roustio since he took over the team for the 2008-09 season. “Last year was the closest we came to beating them,” Roustio said. “Last year they went 14-0 in the (Southwestern) conference; we got beat 75-73 on the road.”
The fact that the Warriors scored a win after such a heartbreaking loss to the Kahoks the night before – the Warriors played in the final game of the night, which got started about 9:30 p.m. and went into overtime – showed that the Warriors had a lot of heart, Roustio felt. “This is such a huge heart game,” Roustio said. “They were coming off losing two (games) in one day after winning five straight, and then we got out of the gate 5-1, and then we lost four out of five.
“So after playing two hard games yesterday – both of us – against two real good teams, you come in here and it’s a heart game.”
The Warriors certainly responded in the second half; it started with a basket from Ron Allen to cut the Flyer lead to 30-24, then Tra Allen took over, scoring on drives, jumpers and a three-point shot to bring GCHS even at 31-31. The Flyers retook the lead after hitting a free throw, but Ron Allen drove the lane to give the Warriors the lead and they never looked back.
That intensity was exactly what Granite City needed, Roustio felt. “I have been harping my kids on this,” Roustio said. “If we can get back to really playing with intensity, which I thought my kids – which I thought our second half was outstanding – my kids know I’m real big on statistics. They knew going into this game that Lincoln held them to 46 points, and that’s the lowest point production East St. Louis has had all season long, and we came close to doing that today.
“Had it not been for our second-half intensity boost, I don’t think it would have happened. But to hold them to 19 points in the second half, and then take care of business at the free-throw line…”
The Flyers did make one more run at the Warriors, getting back to 43-41 in the opening two minutes of the final quarter, but a pair of Torrey Deal free throws gave Granite City some stability and the Warriors were able to hold off the Flyers until they were able to tie it up at 49 with 1:42 to go.
Tra Allen then hit inside to give Granite the lead back and Jake Roustio and Kenny Berry hit from the line down the stretch to put the game away.
Tra Allen led Granite with 24 points, with Berry adding 15 and Ron Allen 11; both Tra Allen and Berry had eight rebounds for the Warriors. Arthur Carter led the Flyers with 11 points, with Kenny Roberson and Patrick Baxter each adding seven points; Roberson also had seven rebounds.
The Warriors went to 7-5 on the year with the win and resume SWC play Tuesday at home against the Kahoks before traveling to meet up with the Flyers Jan. 8.
