COLLINSVILLE – The Alton Redbirds cannot win the Collinsville Class 4A Sectional title until Friday night at Fletcher Gym.

But at least half the crowd of around 2,000 deemed the Redbirds’ 63-59 victory over the Edwardsville Tigers on Tuesday night worthy of a championship celebration.

“This is such a big game for us – the rivalry, the game that everybody wants to see,” Alton junior Maurice Edwards said while surrounded by AHS students that flooded the court to join their team after the game. “I’m just proud of my teammates the way they came and played.”

Alton, which lost two regular-season games to Edwardsville, improves to 16-10 and will be back here at 7 p.m. Friday to play East Moline United (23-6) for the sectional title. The Redbird are seeking their first sectional title since 2005.

Edwardsville closes its season at 25-5 after the Redbirds halted the Tigers’ 10-game winning streak. Alton knocked off No. 10 state-ranked Quincy to win a regional title on Friday and upped the stakes by taking out the No. 5 Tigers, who had won 18 of their previous 19 games.

“The hard part for us is the Alton-Edwardsville rivalry,” Alton coach Eric Smith said. “I always kind of call it circus week, whether it’s in the middle of the season or the postseason. … Our community takes a little bit of pride in these games.”

The Redbirds got clutch performances from an expected source in Edwards and an unexpected source in Ty’ohn Trimble. Edwards, plagued by four trouble in the first half, scored 14 of his team-high 18 points in the second half.

“(Edwards) is awfully good,” Edwardsville coach Mike Waldo said. “He made some very, very hard shots. Chrys Colley is a great defender and he’s been able to guard everybody we’ve played this year well. I thought Chrys Colley did a great job on (Edwards), he just found a way to get it in the basket in traffic with Chrys on him and AJ coming to get him. You’ve just got to give (Edwards) a lot of credit.”

“Maurice has grown up a little bit,” Smith said of Edwards, who was 6 of 7 from the field in the second half. “He’s always been a grown man out on the court, even when he was a freshman. But he made some shots tonight that grown men make.”

Trimble, probably closer to 5-foot-6 than the 5-9 listed in the program, came off the bench to provide sparks early and late. His banked in 3-pointer at the buzzer drew the Redbirds even at 14-14 after one quarter. He then opened the second quarter with a circus shot – back to the basket – flipped over 6-5 AJ Epenesa in the lane during 12-2 run that put Alton up 19-14.

“If Ty’ohn was 6-2, he off 10 (college) offers,” Smith said. “That’s just how we feel. He plays hard, he knows when and how to do things. … He’s had a really great year.”

Trimble was one of four Redbirds in double figures. Marcus Latham scored 14 points and Paul Harris had 10 for Alton, which shot 52 percent (26 of 50) from the field. Alton committed five turnovers to 11 for the Tigers.

“My guys played a very good game,” Waldo said. “We executed things we practiced all year. I just think Alton played excellent and they’re hard for us to defend with the things they did.”

Edwardsville, which shot 60 percent (26 of 43) from the field, got 18 points and 15 rebounds from Epenesa. And Chrys Colley, the lone senior in the Tigers’ six-man rotation, made 9 of 10 shots and led all scorers with 22 points.

The game was tied 27-27 at halftime and Edwardsville built four-point leads four times in the third quarter. But with Latham and Edwards combining to score the quarter’s final six points, Alton took a 42-40 lead to the fourth quarter.

Colley scored 12 points for the Tigers in the game’s final six minutes, but the Redbirds never relinquished the lead. Alton converted 8 of 8 free throws in the game’s final 48 seconds, with Trimble making four and Edwards and Latham following with two apiece.

ALTON 63, EDWARDSVILLE 59

Alton 14 13 15 21 — 63

Edwardsville 14 13 13 19 — 59

Alton (16-10) – Edwards 18, Caldwell Jr. 6, Latham 16, Harris 10, Trimble 13.

Edwardsville (25-5) – Epenesa 18, Strohmeier 2, Stephen 7, Colley 22, Smith 8, Green 2.

Greg Shashack may be reached at 618-798-1486 or on Twitter @gregshashack