BELLEVILLE – Ethyn Brown, who missed a half-court shot at the buzzer a year earlier at Edwardsville, hit a similar shot at the buzzer to give Belleville East a dramatic 39-38 win over the Tigers in an important Southwestern Conference game Saturday afternoon at the East gym.
Brown’s heroics came off a rebound after the Tigers missed a pair of free throws with 3.1 seconds left. Brown got the board, dribbled to half court, and let fly a shot that hit nothing but net at the buzzer to give the Lancers the win.
The Tigers played well throughout the game, and held a 34-29 lead with less than two minutes left after a Brennan Weller shot from the lane found the range.
“We did a lot of things well, we just had our hearts broken at the end,” said Edwardsville coach Dustin Battas. “Overall, we had a great week, and we’re very proud of out guys.”
Weller led the way for Edwardsville with 14 points, while Gabe James had 11 points and Jalil Roundtree added six.
“Brennan was our leading scorer, and Gabe made baskets as well,” Battas said. “And we had a great defensive effort from Jalil, Caleb (Valentine), Preston and Shaun (Pacette) to hold one of their top players to one point.”
Tight defense has been theTigers’ calling card as of late, holding their opponents to under 40 points in all four games this past week.
“We take a lot of pride in our defense,” Battas said, “and we have smart guys that try very hard.”
Brown led East with 12 points, while Alan Mason added nine points, Bryson Ivy had seven points and Z.J. Hamilton came up with six points.
Battas feels that Edwardsville has absolutely nothing to be ashamed about in their efforts.
“Our guys have nothing to hang their heads about,” Battas said. “Sometimes, it’s better to be lucky than good, and Belleville East was good today, and had a little luck at the end.”
The Tigers are now 7-2 on the year, and travel to Madison on Monday night, then play at Roxana on Tuesday and East St. Louis on Thursday, then host Collinsville next Saturday afternoon, winding up the regular season with a home game against Alton. Battas is looking forward to the final two weeks of the abbreviated season.
“We played four great games this week,” Battas said, “and we hope to keep getting better every day.”
