EDWARDSVILLE – Herb Martin led Edwardsville once again, scoring 25 points, and also hit big free throws down the stretch, along with Bryce Pryor, as the Tigers held off Belleville East for a key Southwestern Conference win 57-51 Friday night, Feb. 7, 2025, at Lucco-Jackson Gym.
The Lancers came back from a 12-point halftime deficit to come within one point, but Edwardsville came up with the answers to hold off East, and go to 23-2 overall, and more importantly, 8-1 in the league with three games left. It very much was a key win for the Tigers.
“I feel good that we won,” said Edwardsville head coach Dustin Battas. “I knew it would be a hard game. They’re a real physical team, and they guard you the length. They try to make it hard on you, which they did a good job of that. Our guys hung in there, and made enough shots to win, and they got some big rebounds down the stretch.”
Along with Martin, Iose Epenesa added 15 points, mostly in the first half, and many players made major contributions to the win.
“Iose was great in the first half,” Battas said, “especially with Herb in foul trouble. If you’re going to pressure us, the remedy for pressure Is to throw into Yo, especially when we had Herb on the bench in the first half. Then I thought in the second half, they spent some more attention on Iose, and that opened some things up for Herb, and some of our other guys.”
The Tigers were able to bounce back from having a game canceled at Staunton on Wednesday night, due to a false threat of violence. It may have been a blessing in disguise for Edwardsville.
“You know, that’s just something that’s out of your control,” Battas said. “Staunton was great about that. We were looking forward to playing them, and they were looking forward to hosting us. We’ll try to make that game up next year, and get them back on the schedule. We were on the way, so we really didn’t get to practice for Belleville East that day, so it hurts you a little bit, you’re short one day of prep for Belleville East. But our guys, we have some experience, and practice yesterday was really good, and walk through today was good. So, in the big picture, it probably didn’t hurt us much; our guys were tired, and could use a little rest. So, it might have been a blessing in disguise.”
The Tigers are 23-2, and are rolling right along, with the final stretch of the regular season about to begin, and the HISA Class 4A playoffs right around the corner.
“Moving right along,” Battas said. “The big thing is to maintain that conference lead; that’s important. We’ll seed for the regional next week, so tonight’s game was important for that. We’re proud of our guys, and they’ve worked really, really hard to be in the position that we’re in.”
The Tigers, as mentioned, are now 8-1 in the Southwestern Conference, and in the driver’s seat of the race.
“It is a big thing,” Battas said, “and we have three hard ones left. So anything can happen, but I told our guys that you have to recognize you have done a lot of great things to even be in this position to win a conference championship. So they’re smart guys, they’re mature, and they’ll keep practicing well. They know we’ve still got a few more tough games, and I think they’ll be excited to play those.”
The Lancers did play tough, hard-nosed basketball all the way through, and rallied back from a 30-18 halftime deficit. But in the end, it was just too much to overcome.
“I’m proud of the guys for fighting in the second half,” said Lancers head coach Jeff Creek. “We just kind of got ourselves in too big of a hole in the first half, and (Martin’s) tough for them. He made some tough shots, I thought our guys guarded pretty well, but he made the shots when they mattered.”
Martin took charge in the second half, and Creek praised him very highly.
“He had 25; we were happy we held him up to six (in the first half),” Creek said. “Epenesa had 15, though, which kind of hurt us. But, they’re a good team, they do good things, and we just couldn’t pull it out. We couldn’t score when we needed it the most.”
Jalen Coleman had given the Lancers a 5-4 lead early on after hitting a three, but the Tigers responded with a 7-0 run, with Miccah Butler hitting a three to give Edwardsville a 11-5 lead. After a free throw by Xavien Moody made it 11-6, the Tigers went on another run, outscoring the Lancers 5-2 the remainder of the quarter to give Edwardsville a 16-8 lead at quarter time.
At the start of the second quarter, Epenesa hit three straight baskets to make the score 22-8, and after an East time-out, a pair of free throws by James Johnson and a basket by Jalen Dawson cut the lead to 22-12. After an exchange of three, Rowan Weller scored twice to give Edwardsville a 29-15 lead, with the Tigers going into halftime leading 32-20.
Martin scored twice to give the Tigers a 36-25 lead at the outset of the second half, but East, behind Jacori Brown and R.J. Watson, was able to come within 37-33, Martin answered with a drive down the lane to make it 39-33, but the Lancers kept coming, and a pair of free throws by Troy Alexander made it 39-38 Edwardsville after three quarters.
In the fourth quarter, the Tigers were able to go up 45-41, but the Lancers kept pressing the issue, keeping the score close. But late in the game, Martin and Pryor went a combined two-for-four from the line, with the Lancers coming within 53-51 on a late basket by Coleman. Pryor scored on a lay-in at the final buzzer to make the final 57-51.
Martin led Edwardsville with 25 points, with Epenesa adding 15 points, Butler ended up with seven points, Butler had six points, and Weller had four points. Coleman led the Lancers with 17 points, while Brown had 16 points, both Moody and Dawson had seven points each, Johnson scored four points, and Alexander and Savon Mitchell had three points apiece.
The Tigers are now 23-2, and are on the road twice, playing at Waterloo Tuesday and East St Louis next Friday, then host Collinsville Feb. 18, all games starting at 7:30 p.m. East is now 18-8, and are at Alton on Tuesday, and host O’Fallon next Friday before playing at Belleville West on Feb. 18, with all games also starting at 7:30 p.m.
Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.
