EDWARDSVILLE – Herb Martin once again led Edwardsville in scoring, hitting for 17 points, as three Tiger players scored in double figures as Edwardsville took a 48-34 win over Collinsville Tuesday evening, Feb. 18, 2025, in a Southwestern Conference boys basketball game at Lucco-Jackson Gym.
The win clinched a tie for the SWC championship for the Tigers, who can win the title outright in their final game of the season Friday night at home against Belleville West. It also extended their current winning streak to eight in a row, and are now 26-2 going into the regular season finale. The game was also moved up two hours to 5;30 p.m., due to the weather conditions, and the junior varsity curtain raiser game was also canceled.
“We feel very good,” said Edwardsville head coach Dustin Battas. “That’s a hard game to play. Collinsville’s very good, coach (Darin) Lee obviously does an exceptional job. We just take it one game at a time, tonight, we approached it just like all the other games, but that consistent success allowed us to be at least co-conference champions, and we’ll have a chance on Friday to keep it just us, but we’re very proud of our guys.
“That was a tough win with the snow and out of our routine a little bit, with the change in game time. So, I just thought our seniors were excellent. You can tell it meant a lot to them, and I thought Miccah (Butler) was outstanding on defense and got a lot of loose balls for us. Rowan (Weller) did a really good job on (Donovan Coates).
Even to have a share of the SWC championship is a great feeling for the Tigers and Battas. It’s his first conference championship since becoming head coach.
“It’s a really challenging endeavor,” Battas said. “Coach (Mike) Waldo used to talk about it, if you win our conference in basketball, Tuesdays and Fridays running through our league, there’s not too many gaps in ability and talent in coaches, and so, it’s really hard.
“This is, by far, the most challenging thing I’ve endured in my professional career as coach of our guys, night in and night out, in this league. We have really good players, really good coaches. I think we were able to be conference champions because we had really good players, but also, really high-character guys. I think that means something.”
With the playoffs starting next week, Battas is taking it one game at a time.
“One more game Friday,” Battas said with a smile, “wrap up the conference, and start getting ready for Granite City in the semifinal, and hopefully, play our best game of the year against them, and have a chance to play in the regional championship on that Friday.
“It’s not going to get any easier, that’s for sure. I think we like where we’re at because our guys have approached the whole season as if it were the postseason. Every game has been meaningful to them, so we won’t have to change much. We like our guys, we have older guys, experienced guys, so we know it’s not going to get any easier. But we feel like we’re playing our best basketball, and we also enjoy being around each other, and we look forward to the opportunity to practice for those games.”
The Kahoks played well against the Tigers but had trouble scoring, and that’s what made the difference, according to Coach Lee.
“Well, not good,” Lee said. “We gave it an effort, we just didn’t shoot well.”
Many of the shots Collinsville usually makes weren’t falling, and it hurt the Kahoks all throughout the game.
“We know some shots we can make,” Lee said. “We’ve had guys make them, we didn’t get them down. I thought we had some pretty good looks, but we didn’t make enough of them.”
Coates himself scored the first five points of the game, on a basket and a three, to give Collinsville an early 5-0 lead, with Stanley Carnahan scoring to make it 7-0. The Tigers cut the lead to 7-4, but a three by Jae Wilkinson upped the advantage to 10-4. The Tigers cut the lead to 10-9 on a three from Butler, and a basket by Martin put Edwardsville up 11-10 at quarter time.
In the second quarter, a three from Bryce Pryor and a pair of Martin free throws upped the Tiger lead to 16-10, but a score from Solomon Talbott and another Coates three cut the lead to 16-15. A three-point play from Martin, and basket by Iose Epenesa and Pryor gave Edwardsville a 23-17 lead at the interval.
At the start of the second half, a basket and a three from Martin, along with a three from Pryor and another basket by Martin, upped the Tiger lead to 32-17, A three at the buzzer by Coates cut the lead to 36-26 after three quarters, and appeared to give the Kahoks some momentum, with Chase Reynolds sinking a three to make it 38-31 in the fourth. The Tigers were able to hold off the Kahoks’ comeback attempt, as Pryor scored twice, and Martin added another basket late as the Tigers went on to their 48-34 win.
Martin led Edwardsville with 17 points, while Pryor scored 14 points, Epenesa had 10 points, Butler hit for five points, and Rowan Weller scored two points. Coates led the Kahoks with 14 points, while Jace Wilkinson scored six points, Carnahan hit for four points, Evan Wilkinson had three points, and DeAndre Brown, Reynolds, and Talbott all had two points each.
Collinsville is now 15-15, and concludes the regular season Friday at home against Alton in their Senior Night game, before facing the Redbirds again in the IHSA Class 4A regional at Alton next Wednesday night, both games starting at 7:30 p.m. The Tigers go to 26-2, and host Belleville West in their Senior Night game Friday night at 7:30 p.m., then meets Granite in the playoff opener at Alton at 6 p.m. The two winners face-off in the final Feb. 28 at 7 p.m., the winner going to the Collinsville sectional.
