COLLINSVILLE – One things is for sure when it comes to basketball – the team that defends well throughout the entire game, more often than not, will come out on top at the end of the evening.
Third-quarter defense – or the lack of it – has been a major bugaboo for Civic Memorial as of late, feels Eagle coach Doug Carey, and it hurt the Eagles against Collinsville in their non-conference clash at Fletcher Gym Saturday night.
“Same thing as last night (where the Eagles nearly dropped a decision to Waterloo but managed to take a 63-58 victory), had a lead and let them back in it in the third quarter; we don’t really want to play defense in the third quarter for some reason,” Carey said. “I don’t know what it is, but we need to fix it real quick,” Carey said after the Eagles dropped a 55-52 decision to the Kahoks and after holding a 27-20 lead at the half.
“We just didn’t make any easy shots down the stretch, we missed some layups, gave up a big offensive rebound to them and just didn’t make the plays down the stretch,” Carey said. “Defensively, in the third quarter, we gave up 22 or 24 points. We weren’t ready to play when the third quarter came around after a seven-point lead.”
“We hit some shots in the third quarter, some shots we didn’t make last night against O’Fallon,” said Kahok coach Darin Lee. “We got some shots down; Civic Memorial does a nice job with their motion offense. I was disappointed with some of the back-cuts we gave up, but give them credit for the things they were able to do; they’re a good basketball team, they’re well-coached and they do a nice job.”
The Kahoks were able to battle back and cut down the halftime lead to grab the lead a couple of times and Lee thought getting some key stops at key times helped his team’s cause. “We made some big stops and finally got some big rebounds late, which is something we haven’t been able to do, get a rebound when we we needed it.”
The Kahoks got some key buckets and free-throws at critical times as well; Zack Flora led the Kahoks with 13 points and Ronnie Midgett had 11 points for Collinsville while Tommy Maden and Jake Hall each had eight points, and Chandler Buehne had some key rebounds and helped seal the game with a pair of big free throws with 5.1 seconds to go for the final margin of victory.
JaQuan Adams led the Eagles with 14 points, with David Lane getting 12, Brandon Hampton nine and Jaxsen Helmkamp and Brett Lane adding six points each.
The Eagles travel to Columbia for a non-conference clash Tuesday night, then visit Jersey Friday night then host Mascoutah Feb. 9. The Kahoks host Granite City Friday night in a rematch of their earlier Southwestern Conference encounter in Granite City where the Warriors won on a putback at the siren, then host Alton Feb. 12 before hosting Edwardsville Feb. 16.
