EDWARDSVILLE • The Edwardsville boys basketball team did an excellent job of rebounding this week, both on and off the court.
The Tigers bounced back from their most painful loss of the season by knocking off rival East St. Louis 60-51 in a Southwestern Conference game at Lucco-Jackson Gymnasium on Friday night.
Edwardsville (18-5, 9-3) was coming off a 63-59 overtime loss at Collinsville on Tuesday, a defeat that all but eliminated the Tigers from the conference race.
But rather than dwell on the missed chances of Tuesday, Edwardsville refocused and turned in one of its finest efforts of the campaign.
"Actually, we don't think about losses," Edwardsville coach Mike Waldo said. "We just try and get ready for the next game."
Junior guard Tre Harris led the winning attack with 23 points, 14 in the second half. Harris, who added a team-high nine rebounds, is well aware that most teams would struggle coming off a crushing defeat.
"It was a tough loss for us, but we just don't let one loss get us down," he said. "That's just the way we are. We came back Wednesday and Thursday and really practiced hard. Our team—we do really well at keeping our composure."
Junior forward Garrett Covington added 15 points and eight rebounds for Edwardsville. Sophomore Shawn Roundtree added nine points.
The Tigers did a good job rebounding on the court as well, especially in the second half when they held their own against the taller, more physical Flyers (18-8, 8-4).
East St. Louis parlayed the inside muscle work of senior Montez Williams to take a 28-19 lead in the second quarter. Brandon Johnson capped off a 13-2 run with a 12-footer. But Edwardsville rallied to score four points in the final 37 seconds before the break.
Edwardsville then used a 17-7 outburst in the third quarter to turn a five-point halftime deficit into a 40-35 lead.
"In the second half, I thought our rebounding was really good," Waldo said. "We got some hard, tough rebounds in there around the basket. I actually think the difference between the first half and the second half was that we rebounded better in the second half and showed some good grit under the basket."
Both teams finished with 33 rebounds.
Harris, Covington, Roundtree and Drew Curtis led the third-quarter blitz that helped the Tigers take control. Trailing 28-23 at the break, Edwardsville hit five of six shots in a short 11-2 burst that gave them the lead for good 34-30.
Curtis got the ball rolling with a jumper from the wing and Covington followed with a 3-pointer to tie the game. Roundtree then converted on a coast-to-coast layup off an eye-popping block from Covington. Harris hit a pair of foul shots and scored on a driving layup at the buzzer to put his team up by five heading into the final quarter.
The Harris-Roundtree duo accounted for the Tigers' first eight points of the last period. A steal and layup from Diarra Cropper gave Edwardsville its biggest lead of the night—50-40 with 3:14 left.
Montez Williams led the Flyers with 15 points and 11 boards. Junior Dan Williams added 13 points.
"We had too many mental breakdowns on defense," said East St. Louis coach Ray Coleman. "But we fought."
The Flyers played without their leading scorer, junior Deshawn Munson, who was held out of the game for disciplinary reasons. Munson, averaging 19.2 points, has missed eight games. Coleman says his status is a "day-to-day situation."
"Discipline in a program is very important, and that's what has us where we are," Coleman said. "With high school kids, you're going to have those situations from time to time. He's a great ballplayer, but I want him to win in the game of life too. I want him to mature and really understand the important things in life."
Munson's absence did not detract from the Tigers' stellar effort.
"East St. Louis is a hard team to play—they've got big rangy guys," Waldo said. "I think beating them was a very good win for us. I think we did a lot of things well."
