COLLINSVILLE – Edwardsville senior forward Jack Nafziger had a very good Collinsville Prairie Farms Holiday Basketball Classic, scoring a total of 44 points and grabbing 13 rebounds as the Tigers split their four games, finishing 11th in the tournament.
In the tournament opener Dec. 27 against Decatur Eisenhower, Nafziger had 12 points and one rebound to go along with an assist and a steal in the Tigers’ 48-46 loss to the Panthers on a last-second basket. Nafziger felt the Tigers did some things well in the game, but came up short in the end.
“I thought we executed some things good,” Nafziger said during an interview that followed the Eisenhower game, “We were making more shots than we did the last couple of games offensively, and we started the game out nice defensively, doing our scheme right, but I think we just lost it as the game went on, and didn’t make the shots we needed to, or get the stops we needed to win the game.”
It was a back-and-forth game, with neither team holding more than a four-point lead throughout. Neither team was able to get on an extended run that would have made the difference in the game. Nafziger felt that if the Tigers could have went on that run, it would have indeed made that difference.
“If we would have been able to get on that a run at the end, get a couple of stops, maybe make some shots,” Nafziger said, “we probably would have been able to win the game.”
The effort was still there, as the Tigers are one of the hardest-working teams in the St. Louis Metro area, and the approach to the game was one that was typical of Edwardsville.
“We knew some stuff,” Nafziger said. “We knew their guys who could do stuff, and we knew what we needed to do offensively. We put in some new plays, and we wanted to execute, get baskets and stops on defense.”
With the loss, the Tigers were relegated to the consolation bracket, where they won over Oakville 48-46 on Dec. 28, lost later that night to Quincy on a last-second three 51-50 before defeating Triad 62-43 on Dec. 30. Against Oakville, Nafziger felt the Tigers would take the same approach as usual
“I think the offense will stay the same,” Nafziger said, “try to get open shots and make them. But defensively, we’ll have to change, depending on their team, whoever we play, Collinsville or Oakville, how we’ll stop them and make baskets.”
And it was a good thing about the tournament, in that the Tigers had a chance to bounce back immediately and do good things in order to win. Nafziger looked forward to the opportunity.
“Yeah, definitely,” Nafziger said. “It’s a lot easier when you don’t have to wait a week to play after a loss. You get to play tomorrow, and we’ve got two games tomorrow, so it’ll be even better.”
