BELLEVILLE – Moory Woods led Alton with 17 points, while Dante Herrin added 15 in a great performance, but the Redbirds lost to Collinsville 80-54 in the semifinals of the Belleville East Chick-Fil-A Classic Friday night at the Lancers’ gym.
The Kahoks jumped out to an early 26-13 lead, and led at the half 47-28 in going on to the win, but the Redbirds gave Collinsville a battle, playing hard for the entire game.
“I don’t think we played all that bad,” said Alton head coach Dana Morgan. “Collinsville came out and hit their first five shots, we had a couple of shots around the rim that missed, we had a turnover, and that put us in a hole we couldn’t quite dig out of. But I’m proud of the kids. We played hard for 32 minutes, they competed, but we couldn’t get out of that early hole. That’s the bottom line of this game.”
The Kahoks were led once again by Ray’Sean Taylor, who scored 29 points on the night, with Lorent Dzeladini adding 13 points, Nate Hall chipping in 11 and Keydrian Jones adding 10. But the Redbirds kept coming after Collinsville throughout the game, and Morgan was very pleased with their effort.
“Definitely, I thought all of our guys played well,” Morgan said. “The scoreboard may not show it, but I’m proud of my guys’ effort, We just needed a better start tonight, and we just didn’t have it.”
Besides Woods and Herrin, Ky’lun Rivers had nine points for Alton, while Ja’markus Gary added seven, and Camren Edwards, Keith Smith and Lonnie Tate all had two points in the game.
The Redbirds are now 10-10 on the year, and will play the host Lancers in the third place game Saturday night, with a 6 p.m. tip. The Kahoks, now 20-0 on the year, face Trinity Catholic of north St. Louis County, a 60-53 winner over the hosts in the other semifinal, in the championship game, starting at 7:30 p.m. Morgan feels that if the Redbirds continue to play hard, good things will happen.
“if we continue to play hard and value the ball, the scoreboard’s going to change,” Morgan said.
