ALTON – It’s been a long six years since the Alton Redbirds boys basketball team last won a regional title. Six years and four coaches later, they’ll be returning to the title game.
Alton hosted and defeated Collinsville 52-46 Wednesday night in an IHSA Class 4A regional semifinal played at Alton High School.
The Redbirds got off to a hot start and took a 17-2 lead early on, but the Kahoks battled back in the second half to make it a one-possession game and put Alton on its heels.
It had the home fans biting their nails as a game that was busted wide open came down to the wire.
“Winning the first one is the hardest,” Alton head coach Dylan Dudley said. “And I take full responsibility, I did a terrible job coaching in the second half and I just told the boys that in there. But in games like this, you have to play to win, you can’t play not to lose. That was totally my fault. But credit to our players for fighting.”
It was Alton’s first postseason win since the 2018-19 season when it won its last regional title under head coach Eric Smith. The Redbirds later fell to Belleville West in the sectional semifinals as the Maroons went on to win the state title.
Alton’s quick start was largely in part to one player. And his name was Kobe Taylor.
He scored 13 of Alton’s opening points in that 17-2 run. He opened the game with back-to-back three-pointers, interrupted by a Collinsville basket from Stanley Carnahan, and then drilled another three and a basket to make it 11-2. Jamarion Green added another score, sending the Kahoks into a spiral and a full timeout midway through the first quarter.
The Kahoks settled in but still trailed 19-8 after one. Alton gained some more ground in the second and led 33-22 at halftime.
The Redbirds led by as many as 16 points at 41-24 but Collinsville began turning the tide late in the third when it closed the quarter on a 12-2 run. The Kahoks opened the fourth on a 6-2 run to make it 45-40 with a little over six minutes left in the game.
The chaos forced Alton to rally the troops during a full timeout with 4:24 left. Out of the timeout, Collinsville hit two huge shots, a highly-contested basket from Donovan Coates and a knockdown three-pointer from Jace Wilkinson that closed the gap to 48-46.
Alton called another timeout with 1:03 remaining. To close the game, the Redbirds hit four clutch free throws to put the game away, two from Hassani Elliot and two from Taylor.
Taylor finished just shy of his career-high with 19 points, 17 of which came in the first half.
“I’m not surprised,” Dudley said. “He’s just had a different look about him the last three weeks. . . Sometimes you look at a box score and he scores two, scores six, but it’s so much more. It’s his voice, it’s his leadership in huddles, it’s his pressure on the ball, knowing how we rotate on defense. I’m not surprised one bit.”
The Kahoks sure were.
Most teams come in expecting that high-octane offense to be sparked by Semaj Stampley, but the hot hand was Taylor instead.
“No, we didn’t [expect that],” Collinsville head coach Darrin Lee said. “We have enough video and stats, and he just has not shot a couple from behind the arc, and he did tonight. If he shoots like that Friday, they might win a regional.”
Stampley still finished with a respectable 13 points and Green had nine. Oliver Williams scored five points and Alex Macias had four.
The Kahoks and Redbirds split their two regular-season meetings. Alton led 32-20 at halftime at home back on Jan. 14, but Collinsville rallied with a huge second half performance to tie the game up at 46, forcing overtime. The Redbirds ended up losing a heartbreaker 56-51.
The deficit at the half this time around was 11 points, so the Kahoks never put themselves out of it.
“We knew we had a shot, we just had to get some stops,” Lee said. “We had to not turn it over and get some stops and rebounds. If we could do that, then we had a shot. Just didn’t quite get close enough.”
An up and down season for Collinsville saw it finish losing four straight for a 15-17 record. The Kahoks were led in scoring by Coates with 15 points. Carnahan had 13 and Wilkinson had 11.
Alton advances to the regional championship where it will take on Edwardsville, another team it split the regular season meetings with.
Alton won at home 52-39 on Dec. 6 and the Tigers defended their home court thanks to a late go-ahead basket from Herbert Matin to steal a 53-52 win on Jan. 17.
Alton heads into Friday’s game with a 25-6 record. Edwardsville Is 28-2.
“Now we get the one everybody wanted to see,” Dudley said. “Alton people don’t like them; Edwardsville people don’t like us. We have a lot of respect for their basketball program. Coach [Dustin] Battas is one of the best coaches around. It’s going to be a hell of a battle on Friday night in front of 3,000 people, I know that much.”
Game starts at 7 p.m. at Alton High School.
