EDWARDSVILLE - The 73-44 win over Edwardsville on Friday night at Edwardsville was a big victory for Alton's boys basketball squad and Head Coach Dylan Dudley.
Dudley was very excited about the Southwestern Conference triumph over the always tough Tigers.
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"It was a good start for our kids," said Redbirds coach Dylan Dudley. "Our kids love these environments; they play in these environments. It's what they expect, and every time we go somewhere, there's some big show, or some big production. Obviously, when you come to Edwardsville, it's going to be a packed house; it's a rivalry game. However, our kids played just as they had practiced, and that's a credit to them.
"That's the biggest thing we talk about in our program. We don't talk about winning games; we don't talk about winning championships. We're talking about winning at practice. And if we play well in practice, you will play well in the game. It was a credit to our kids; they played tonight like they played in practice."
The Redbirds scored the game's first eight points, and kept on the gas all night, never letting Edwardsville get back into the game.
"That's a credit to our kids," Dudley said. "You've got to stay aggressive. I thought the pace of the game was in our favor, I knew they'd throw some zone at us, try to take some possessions away from us. But I think our kids did a really good job. The best way to beat a zone is to get a stop and play transition offense. And when the game starts going up and down, it turns into a track meet, and that definitely benefits us. That helped us stretch the lead out in the first half, for sure."
Alton is off to a great start, both overall and in the league, and Dudley is very excited about what lies ahead.
"We're 2-0, and we're off to a good start," Dudley said. "To win two road games, I don't care if you win by 31, like we did tonight, I don't care if you win by one point. To win a road game in this league is really, really hard, and so, credit to our kids for coming on the road, and fighting, showing some resilience. But more importantly, just showing some maturity for stick with it, and not play the scoreboard. You've just got to keep doing the right thing over and over again. That's what our kids did, so, credit to them."
The Redbirds play a tough game at Decatur Eisenhower on Saturday, but in Dudley's mindset, the games aren't as important as the practice sessions.
"We just do things a little differently in our program," Dudley said. "I'm not saying we do everything right, and people do everything wrong. We just focus on practice. We don't worry about the opponent we play. Yes, we do a scouting report, yes, we talk about things, but we talk about just being tough, and doing the right things, competing and playing together.
"We have a saying in our program, we're the hardest-playing, toughest, most together team. I think you saw that tonight, and so, that'll be the focus going forward. It was a great environment over here, fun to come over here and play, credit to our kids for playing well, but it only counts for one, right? And so, we've got to go back to the drawing board, keep getting better, and do the next right thing."
The Redbirds are now 4-2, and play at Eisenhower on Saturday afternoon at 3:30 p.m., then return home to the Redbirds Nest to meet Belleville Althoff Catholic Tuesday night, then host Belleville West next Friday night, both games at 7:30 p.m.
Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.
