BELLEVILLE • The matching Collinsville t-shirts Jack and Luke Geisen wore said it all. They read: Class of '23.
Tradition is a large part of the Collinsville boys basketball program, which joined an elite club Saturday. The Kahoks’ 56-53 win over Oakville in the Belleville East Winter Classic was the 2,000th victory in the storied history of the hoops program. Collinsville is only the third program in the nation to reach the milestone. Kingsport (Tenn.) and Centralia (Ill.) were the first two schools to reach the 2,000-win mark.
“Obviously Collinsville basketball has been historically an incredible program,” Collinsville coach Darin Lee said. “We’ve had so many good players. … We’re just a very small part of it.”
While generations of Collinsville fans packed the stands, an upstart Oakville team nearly killed the celebration.
Despite leading from the opening minutes of the game, Collinsville (18-3) never quite pulled away from Oakville. The largest Kahoks' lead was nine in the second quarter; in the second half, Collinsville never managed to build a lead of more than five.
Oakville (2-13) stunned Collinsville with a 7-0 run late in the fourth to jump ahead 51-49. Austin Gillmann scored three points and Ervin Sarajlic and Tommy Breunig each scored two for the Tigers.
Collinsville, No. 3 in the STLhighschoolsports large-schools rankings, responded with a 7-2 run to end the game. After a pair of free throws from Daryn Foster tied it at 51-51, Falando Wilkinson came up with a steal on the inbounds. He was fouled immediately and his free throws gave Collinsville a 53-51 lead with 1 minute 5 seconds left.
“That was the game right there,” Lee said.
Collinsville went three for six from the free throw line after that, which gave Oakville the chance to tie it at the end. Gillmann launched a desperation 3-pointer at the buzzer, but it was off the mark.
“I’m just proud of the kids’ effort,” Oakville coach Nick Traxler said. “We’ve played a really tough schedule with a lot of young kids, who don’t have varsity experience, and it is paying off.”
Foster led Collinsville with 12 points. Jaris Wellmaker and J’Vaughn Williams chipped in 10 apiece. Williams went five for six from the free throw line in the pivotal fourth quarter.
Sarajlic scored a game-high 18 for Oakville, and Gillmann added 12.
The victory set off a postgame celebration as purple-clad fans cheered the milestone win.
The Geisen boys from the Class of '23 are just the latest generation in their family to be around the Collinsville basketball program. Their mother, Toni, is a Collinsville alum. The boys’ grandfather, Pete LaFrank (Class of ’39), was a Collinsville season ticket holder for 60 years.
“We’ve gone to all the tournaments,” Toni Geisen said. “We always joked that that was our vacation. We wouldn’t go anywhere unless we were in a tournament.”
Tim McChristian, Toni Geisen’s brother, has been going to Kahoks games since he was 7 years old, and he played at Collinsville in high school. He said the accomplishment is special.
“We’re talking over 100 years,” McChristian said. “Even though Collinsville is the third team to do it, those other teams have played 300 more games than Collinsville, and it has taken them more games to get there.”
Jerry Soehlke was part of the 1963 Collinsville team that won the 1000th game for the program. His brother was part of the 1957 Kahoks team that finished second at state, and his father kept score at Collinsville for 50 years.
Soehlke sat just two rows behind the Kahoks bench for No. 2000.
“I’ve been a lifelong fan as well as a player,” Soehlke said. “It means a lot to us.”
And it means a lot to the current Collinsville players.
Williams said the program's tradition and the step into history has been on the Kahoks' minds since winning the program's 1,999th game against Althoff on Tuesday in the opening round of the Winter Classic.
“Even though I’m going to play football (at Western Illinois), this season is something I’ll remember forever,” Williams said.
