BELLEVILLE - Isayah Kloster led Edwardsville with 17 points, while Bryce Spiller added 16 points as the Tigers snapped an eight-game losing skid with a 54-41 win over Belleville West in the regular-season finale Friday night at the West gym.
The Tigers played particularly well defensively, holding the Maroons' top scorers to a combined six points, and it certainly earned the team a special post-game treat.
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"It was a great win for our team," said Edwardsville head coach Dustin Battas, "and the guys played really well. It's always a good win, because it's a great reward for their hard work in practice. And we took them to the Flying J truck stop (in Belleville) to celebrate. They were all smiles," Battas said with a laugh.
The Tigers played particularly well defensively, holding the Maroon players to single digits.
"Isayah was defending well on their six-foot-seven guy," Battas said, "and Bryce and Shaun (Pacatte) did a great job scrambling and doubling when we needed it. And Malik (Allen) and A.J. (Tillman) held their two leading scorers to six points combined. It's one of our best defensive performances of the season."
The Tigers jumped out to a 15-6 lead after the first quarter, then extended their advantage to 30-15 at halftime, saw the lead cut to 37-27 after three quarters, then outscored West in the final quarter 17-14 to seal the win.
Besides Kloster and Spiller, Pacatte hit for nine points for Edwardsville, while Allen scored eight points and both Hersch Greene and Tillman each had two points each. William Brown, Jr. led the Maroons with nine points, while David Marshall, Jr. hit for eight points and Damion Farley, Travion Hines, Myles Liddell and Jarius LJ Winters, Jr. all had six points each.
The Tigers end their regular season 11-18 and play Quincy in the IHSA Class 4A Alton regional Wednesday night at 7:30 p.m., while the Maroons finish the regular season 8-19 and play Collinsville in the Granite City regional Tuesday night at 6 p.m. Battas feels that his team is playing their best basketball of the season at the exact right time.
"I really think in our last three games, we're playing really good basketball," Battas said, "and hopefully, we're peaking at the right time. The main thing is we'll have a few good days of practice and fully prepared to play our best game against Quincy."
