COLLINSVILLE – Evan Brewer and Taurean Valentine hit big shots in overtime, while Antonio Dean III hit for 12 key points as Granite City held off Mundelein of suburban Chicago 52-47 in the consolation quarterfinals of the 40th Collinsville Prairie Farms Holiday Classic Saturday afternoon in the auxiliary gym at Vergil Fletcher Gym in Collinsville.
The Warriors and Mustangs ended regulation tied 43-43, but Granite’s young team outscored Mundelein in the extra period 9-4 to take a vital win for the team at a very opportune time.
“I’m feeling good,” said Granite head coach Gerard Moore. “With a young team like we have, it’s always fortunate to have some success, so they can build on it, and feel good about themselves. This is one of those games, where the win was more for us than the loss for the other team. We’re young, and for us to win a game like that, a close game against a well-coached team in Mundelein is big-time for us. So, hopefully, we can continue with our high, and build on that, and try to get another one.”
With a young team, it has been an up-and-down season for the Warriors, who went to 5-8 with the win. The win over the Mustangs is definitely a highlight win for the team.
“It’s definitely up-and-down when you’re 4-8,” said Moore, “and I think we’re 5-8. The truth is, we played a tough schedule, with the likes of Metro-East (Lutheran), who’s 6-2, who we typically probably have a chance to beat. They turned out to be pretty good, O’Fallon is pretty good, (Belleville) West is pretty good, (Belleville) East is pretty good, as you know. Collinsville is no cupcake. So we’ve played a tough schedule. We have not lost to a team that we’re supposed to not lose to. So, I’m OK with those losses, I’m OK with the start of the season, considering what we bring back. We lost nine seniors, and we only have one guy who played varsity last year. So, all of those, put into consideration, I think we’re doing fairly decent.”
The hope is that the Warriors will keep the momentum going after the Holidays.
“Hopefully, we can get some wins here and there,” Moore said, “get some wins at (Jersey), and we’ve got some home games coming. I’m confident and hopeful we can win. I think we can end the season strong. We’ve just got to keep getting better. Tonight was a very good example of how a young team, if they’re clicking on all cylinders, can beat you. In high school basketball, anything is possible.”
The Mustangs, behind the hot shooting of Evan Salvador and Nathan Haul, went out to an early 8-2 lead, with Valentine and Dean bringing the Warriors back to 8-5. A basket by Dean put Granite to within 10-7 at the end of the first quarter, and in the second, threes from Dean and Johnnie Coleman III gave the Warriors their first lead at 13-10. Mundelein got to within 17-15, before another three from Dean gave the Warriors a 20-15 lead, which became 25-15 later on, thanks to the efforts of Dean. It became 27-20, then Brandon Bautista sank a three before the buzzer to cut the Granite lead to 27-23 at halftime.
A Hauf basket at the start of the third quarter pulled the Mustangs to within 27-25, but the Warriors answered with a Dean basket to make it 29-25. The lead stayed at four for Granite for most of the quarter, then Valentine and Brewer scored to up the lead to 36-31. Baskets by John Weiss, and Jason Dorn cut the Warrior lead to 38-35 after three quarters.
A basket at the start of the fourth by Javier Cass gave Granite a 40-35 lead, but the Mustangs came back, as Hauf hit key baskets to give Mundelein a 43-40 lead. A three from Valentine tied the game late 43-43, and the Mustangs had a chance to win it in regulation, but a shot missed, forcing overtime. Brewer scored at the start of overtime to make it 45-43 for Granite, and from there, Valentine hit a key three, and Brewer and Valentine sank crucial free throws to give the Warriors a 52-47 win.
Cass led Granite with 14 points, while Dean added 12, both Brewer and Valentine had eight points each, Coleman had five points, Tyler Moore hit for three points, and Isiah Garrett had two points. Mundelein was led by both Salvador and Hauf with 12 points each, while LaQuan Thomas scored 10 points, Weiss had eight points, Bautista scored three points, and Keshav Chandramouli had two points.
The Warriors went to 5-8, and played Oakville, who won their quarterfinal over Carbondale 64-61, in the consolation semifinals, while the Mustangs are now 5-7, and met the Terriers in the 13th place semifinals.
Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.
