ALTON – Friday the 13th.
It was a date circled on the calendar for the Alton High School boys basketball team, its rematch with the East St. Louis Flyers, this time in A-Town.
Eight days ago, this game had everything riding on it but back-to-back losses in the Southwestern Conference for the Redbirds made the title race all but East Side’s to lose.
And the Flyers don’t plan on losing it, defeating Alton 89-57 to improve to 25-3 on the season and 10-0 in the SWC.
Alton’s Semaj Stampley opened the game with a three-pointer, sparking energy into one of, if not the largest crowds of the season at Alton High.
But that momentum didn’t last long.
Just a little over two and a half minutes into the game, Alton big man Jamarion Green picked up his second personal foul and forced head coach Dylan Dudley’s hand to take him out of the game.
That prompted the Flyers to go on a 10-3 run, taking the lead at 10-6 and forcing the Redbirds into a timeout right inside two minutes left. The Flyers led 16-14 after the first quarter.
Stampley drilled another three to take the lead back at 17-16, a lead that would be his team’s last. East Side scored the game’s next nine points to go ahead 25-19 and went on to lead 43-34 at the half.
Green never returned in the first half.
“It’s crazy to me that he got two fouls in the first two minutes,” Dudley said. “That’s wild to me.”
“But yeah, when you play without him, that makes a huge difference. To be honest with you, I thought we were in pretty good shape, being down nine points at halftime. I felt pretty good about where we were considering he didn’t play.”
But the Redbirds, who played on their home court for the final time this season, were just out of sorts.
The Flyers opened the second half on a 13-4 tilt, extending their lead to 56-38. They led 71-45 after three.
“It started in the first quarter. You could just tell the game wasn’t in good shape for us because we were trying to dribble through their press,” Dudley said. “The first game, right, they were just getting run outs. This game, they didn’t get any run outs, because we just wouldn’t pass the ball to the open guy, we just tried to dribble through the press, and they got their hands out, got run outs and that gave them confidence.”
The first meeting between the two teams back on January 6 resembled more of a tennis match with how end-to-end it was played. That game was frantic, East Side throwing numbers forward to win a barn-burner 87-84.
Green was in foul trouble in that game also, eventually fouling out.
Less of East Side’s baskets were in transition this time around, but more of them came from beyond the arc. In the previous meeting, the Flyers shot 3-for-9 from three land. On Friday in Alton, they made 11.
“You have to pick your poison with a team like that,” Dudley said. “You have to protect the paint and make them make threes, and credit to them, they made threes tonight and that’s indicative of the score.”
“They’re talented, they have seven really good players,” Dudley continued. “None of them live in East St. Louis, or are from there, but when those seven talented kids get going, credit to those kids, they’re good players.”
The Alton coach is referring to East Side’s number of transfers, including stand-out players Jamison White (Chaminade) and Devin Houson (CBC).
White, the future Penn State Nittany Lion, and Terri’yon Webster led the Flyers with 23 points each. Alex Johnson, the lone returning starter from last season’s 15-17 team, scored 21. Phillip Jones scored 10 points and Houston had six.
The Flyers, who remained the top-ranked team in IHSA Class 3A according to the latest Associated Press rankings, are trying to become the first team to go 12-0 in the conference since 2017-18 when the Belleville West Maroons went 14-0 in a time when Granite City was still in the SWC.
The Flyers went 10-0 in league play in 2021-22, their last SWC title.
The Edwardsville Tigers won the conference outright at 11-1 last season.
Back to Friday’s game, and Stampley left it all on the court in his final game in ‘The Nest’.
He led Alton with 34 points, a career high. It was the fourth time he’s scored 30 or more points as a Redbird on a night where he was celebrated for recently becoming the program’s all-time leading scorer.
Only Ryan Howard scored in double figures as well with 11 points.
The Redbirds fall to 16-11 on the season and 6-4 in the conference.
For the first time since the 2022-23 season, the season Dudley got hired on as head coach, the Redbirds have suffered their fourth straight loss.
“We’re very fragile right now,” Dudley said. “Our confidence is shaken. Our confidence was shaken before this game; it was shaken last Friday (a 43-31 home loss to Edwardsville that began the losing streak). And it’s been a carry over and it’s hard.”
“This program, since JaQuail [Townser] and I have been here, we haven’t been in this position, so as crazy as it sounds, we’re learning a little bit about ourselves and about them,” Dudley continued.”
“But the crazy thing about it is, everything you want to play for is still right there in front of your face. You have the opportunity to do those things, but you have to fix some things before you do so. Can we get it fixed? I hope so.”
