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COLLINSVILLE – Two Metro East large-school heavyweights took to the court in Collinsville Tuesday night.
In one corner, Edwardsville, entering the game at 25-4 and owner of a 10-game winning streak. In the other corner, Alton, entering the game at 15-10 and on a postseason roll that saw them knock off Chatham Glenwood and Quincy in their own IHSA regional to get to this stage.
Collinsville’s Fletcher Gym – named for the iconic Kahok basketball coach Virgil Fletcher – was the venue for the clash between two Southwestern Conference rivals.
The largest lead either team had was a six-point lead the Redbirds had in the final term; neither team led by more than four throughout the game other than that. The teams were level at both quarter time and halftime.
That was when Maurice Edwards took over; he scored 14 of his team-high 18 points in the second half and the Redbirds rode it to a 63-59 win over the Tigers in Tuesday night’s IHSA Class 4A Collinsville Sectional semifinal contest; the Redbirds will take on East Moline United, 55-54 double-overtime winners over Rock Island in the other semifinal played at Moline Tuesday night, at 7 p.m. Friday in the sectional final, with the winner heading to the March 15 Normal Supersectional at Illinois State’s Redbird Arena against the Chicago Heights Bloom Sectional winner; that winner advances to next weekend’s Class 4A state tournament at Peoria Civic Center.
“The kids played well,” said Redbird coach Eric Smith. “Maurice has kind of grown up a little bit; he’s always been a grown man out on the court, even when he was a freshman. We knew he was going to be able to play, but he made some shots tonight that a grown man makes.”
“(Edwards is) awfully good,” said Tiger coach Mike Waldo. “He made some very hard shots; Chrys Colley is a great defender, he’s been able to guard everyone we’ve played this year well, and I thought (Colley) did a great job on (Edwards). He just found a way to get it in the basket in traffic, with Chrys on him and A.J. (Epenesa) coming to get him.
“I think you just have to give (Edwards) a lot of credit, and then as the game wore on, we couldn’t let (Edwards) get the ball because he scored when he had it; it got us spread out and they had guards who were fast. We had to play three-on-three with a whole half-court; they dribbled in there and made points.”
Both teams played very well the entire game. “My guys played a very good game,” Waldo said. “I think we executed things we practiced all year; I just think Alton played excellent and they’re hard for us to defend with the things they did. I’m not disappointed at all the way we played. We played really well, it’s just Alton played real good and you just have to give them credit.”
As much as Edwards made a difference for the Redbirds, Smith felt Ty’ohn Trimble really created a spark for his side; Trimble hit a half-court shot at the quarter-time siren that tied the game 14-14, then Trimble created plays and hit some key shots down the stretch that helped Alton hold off Edwardsville.
Trimble’s listed at 5-9 on the Redbird roster, but he played much bigger. “If Ty’hon was 6-2, he’d have 10 (college) offers,” Smith quipped. “That’s just how we feel; he plays hard, he knows how to do things.
“Game after game, we’ve put him out there and he’s come up with a big rebound…he’s had a great year.”
No matter what, neither team would go away; the Tigers managed to get to within one or two points down the stretch; Colley came up with some big three-pointers to pull Edwardsville close, and Oliver Stephen hit a three-ball with nine seconds left to pull the Tigers to 61-59 to give the Tigers a chance, but Edwards hit a pair of free throws three seconds later to clinch the win. Stephen took one last shot that would have pulled the Tigers to one right before the siren, but missed.
Edwards led with 18 points, with Marcus Latham scoring 16, Trimble 13 and Paul Harris 10 for the Redbirds (16-10); Colley led all scorers with 22 points for the Tigers (eliminated at 25-5), with Epenesa scoring 18 and Mark Smith adding eight.
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Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.
