BELLEVILLE – Friday night was a Southwestern Conference showdown that’s about as big as it gets in the early portion of the season.
The 9-1 Belleville East Lancers hosted the 8-1 Alton Redbirds. Alton was looking to remain perfect in the SWC and it did so after a come-from-behind 55-42 win.
The Redbirds improved to 9-1 on the year and 4-0 in the conference. East is now 9-2 and 1-2 in conference.
With Belleville West’s Friday night road loss at East St. Louis, Alton is now the only remaining team with a perfect conference record.
Alton head coach Dylan Dudley talks about how important it is to defend home court, but these road games are the ones that help win a conference.
“To win the league, you have to win some games on the road,” Dudley said. “We don’t talk about winning the league, but if you give yourself half a second to think about the big picture, yeah, you’ve got to win these games. But I think it’s just another step. We just grew up a little bit.”
Compare it to a season ago when Alton finished last in the SWC with a 3-9 record. Only one of those wins came on the road at O’Fallon. The Redbirds finished the year 17-15, their first winning season since the 2018-19 season (23-10-1).
That season was also the last time Alton had beaten Belleville East, a 73-51 win back on Feb. 2, 2019. Since then the Redbirds dropped 12 straight games to the Lancers before Friday.
“Just a good win,” Dudley said. “Round four of 12 in this league, but obviously, this game was a pretty big game.”
It was one that started with a defensive masterclass from the Redbirds.
Alton opened the game on a 6-2 run thanks to three free throws from Hassanit Elliot and a triple from Trai’Sean Sims. But then East took over a little bit and went on an eight-point run, reaching a 10-8 lead after the first quarter.
The teams pretty much traded baskets until East closed the half on an 8-2 run. Jalen Coleman came to life for the Lancers. He hit back-to-back threes and had another basket at the end to put East up 20-13 at halftime.
It was a low-scoring first half where nothing came easy for either offense.
“That’s what I told them at halftime. We were 1-13 with layups, and 1-7 from three, we turned the ball over 12 times, but we were guarding them plenty good enough to win,” Dudley said. “Credit to our kids for listening to the scouting report, buying into what we’re doing.”
Alton’s leading scorer Semaj Stampley recorded only two first-half points, both from the foul line. East’s second-leading scorer Xaiven Moody wasn’t doing any better, also with just two points. The two guarded one another for most of the game.
It was Stampley who came back onto the court with a mission.
East grew the lead to 24-15, its largest of the night before Stampley hit his first of five threes in the third quarter. Elliot put in a basket to make it 24-20. Then it was all Stampley.
He scored a basket in transition before hitting back-to-back threes, an eight-point run that had the Redbirds leading 28-26, at which point they never trailed again.
He wasn’t done. Coleman scored a couple of free throws at the other end before Alton stormed back down the court and got it to the hot hand for another go-ahead three. Kobe Taylor joined in on the fun and scored a three-pointer from the corner before Stampley’s final triple.
Alton outscored the Lancers 25-9 in the third quarter, ending it on an 18-3 run. Stampley had 17 points in the third.
“I did not say anything to Semaj [at halftime],” Dudley said. “Coach Quail said some things to him. But I think he’s just been close to having one of these moments. He’s such a great kid. He doesn’t want to step on anyone’s toes. He’s such a great teammate, such a great person.”
“You saw how excited they were for him, but then in return, in that locker room in there, all that kid cared about was that we won the game,” Dudley added.
Stampley tacked on nine more points in the fourth, five of which came from the foul line to finish the game as its leading scorer with 28 points. Alton went 9-14 from the line in the fourth to close out the game.
“We did close it out in the fourth,” Dudley said. “I mean, it’s easy when Semaj gets on a heater like that and shows why he’s the best player in the league, probably better than a top 50 player in the state now, but to have the maturity to close it out on the road, to not let up.”
Elliot finished with 12 points for Alton. Taylor had seven, Sims had five, and Oliver Williams had three.
Coleman ended up with 15 and Moody had nine. Troy Alexander and Savion Mitchell each had six. East’s leading scorer Jalen Dawson was held scoreless.
It was Alton’s fourth straight win since its lone loss at Mount Vernon back on Dec. 7.
“We had four really good days of practice,” Dudley said. “Last week, in those games against O’Fallon and Pattonville, we played like we practiced, and it was my fault. It wasn’t the kids’ fault, that was one me.”
“But tonight, those kids played like we practiced. They had four incredible practices. They were just locked in,” Dudley continued. “I could tell midway through Monday’s practice that something was a little different. That there was a little different juice in the air.”
“To see them come out here and be rewarded for it. It’s just another step in the right direction for us.”
