BELLEVILLE — In a state that has long loved high school basketball, the 110th journey of what’s now named America’s Original March Madness is about to begin.
And for the Edwardsville Tigers, that trip begins as the top seed in the Granite City regional of the Illinois High School Association Class 4A boys’ basketball tournament.
Alton defeated Granite City 74-40 Monday night in a first-round matchup of the IHSA Class 4A Granite City Regional Monday night.
The Redbirds advanced to a semifinal game at 7 p.m. Wednesday against Quincy with a 15-11 mark; the Warriors were eliminated with a 1-23 mark.
In Monday’s other game, Chatham Glenwood defeated Springfield 63-45 to send the Titans to a semifinal game at 7 p.m. today against top-seeded Edwardsville. The final is set for 7 p.m. Friday; the winner goes to the Ottawa Sectional next week.
The winner of that game will play Quincy Wednesday night at 7 p.m., and the Tuesday and Wednesday winners will square off for the regional title on Friday night at 7 p.m.
For Tigers’ coach Mike Waldo, the mission is a very simple one.
“Well, we want to win Tuesday,” Waldo said.
And to that end, the Tigers will take the one game at a time approach.
“We play either Springfield or Chatham on Tuesday, so we’ll practice for them, then play Tuesday and do our best,” Waldo said.
Looking ahead, the Granite winner will play the Belleville East Regional winner in the semifinals of the Ottawa Township sectional on March 7 in a 7 p.m. tip. The site for that game is yet to be announced. The winner of that game advances to the Sweet Sixteen and the sectional final at Ottawa against the winner of either the East Moline United or Normal Community West regional on March 10, tip off again at 7 p.m.
The Ottawa winner advances to the Super-Sectional Elite Eight pairing against the South Holland Thornwood winner at Illinois State’s Redbird Arena on March 14, with a 7 p.m. tip. That winner advances to the state semifinals against the winner of the DeKalb Super Sectional winner at 7:15 p.m. on March 17, St. Patrick’s Day. The third- and fourth-place game will be March 18 at 5:30 p.m., and the state final will follow immediately at 7:15 p.m.
And Edwardsville is looking forward to playing in the postseason and hope to do good things as the playoffs progress.
“We really look forward to the postseason,” Waldo said, “and we want to do well. And the way to do that is one game at a time.”
