COLLINSVILLE • The last time Alton played a basketball game against Edwardsville, Maurice Edwards felt like he had dropped the ball without even touching it.
The dynamic junior guard has been asking for the ball ever since, and most of the time he’s held onto it until he puts it through the hoop.
Edwards said he had to miss the Redbirds’ one-point loss to the Tigers on Feb. 19 in Alton because he was academically ineligible. He’s led Alton in scoring in all five games since then, with his latest performance more than making up for his absence against Edwardsville.
The Redbirds faced the Tigers again Tuesday night in a Class 4A sectional semifinal at Vergil Fletcher Gymnasium, and Edwards poured in a team-high 18 points to lead his team to a 63-59 win.
“Me missing that game, I felt I let a lot of people down. I let myself down, I let my team down, I let my fans down,” Edwards said. “I couldn’t wait for this game. I had to come out here and leave it all on the floor.”
The 6-foot Edwards, who made a game-winning buzzer-beater in Alton’s playoff opener against Chatham Glenwood, was especially good down the stretch Tuesday. He scored 14 of his points in the second half and had all eight of the Redbirds’ points spanning the end of the third quarter and start of the fourth, turning a two-point deficit into a lead his team did not relinquish.
Edwards’ heroics and acrobatics — many of his field goals were driving runners, floaters and layups — helped Alton (16-10) reach a sectional final for the second year in a row. It will face East Moline United, which beat Rock Island 55-54 in double overtime Tuesday, at 7 p.m. Friday at Collinsville.
“When he was a freshman, we knew that he was going to be able to play,” Alton coach Eric Smith said. “But he made some shots tonight that grown men make.”
The Redbirds also got a boost from their most diminutive player. Junior guard Ty’ohn Trimble, a 5-6 junior, scored a career-high 13 points off the bench and was a spark both early and late. His 3-point goal from near halfcourt tied the game 14-14 at the end of the first quarter, and he made an over-the-shoulder putback to start the second quarter.
Trimble also helped Alton close out the win. His driving, left-handed layup gave the Redbirds their largest lead at 55-49 with 2 minutes, 5 seconds remaining, and he went 4 of 4 from the free-throw line during the final 50 seconds.
“I got a lot of confidence from that shot,” Trimble said of his first-quarter heave off the glass. “I feel like I can make any shot now.”
Seniors Marcus Latham and Paul Harris added 16 and 10 points, respectively, for the Redbirds. The forward Harris also grabbed a team-high five rebounds.
Chrys Colley, the only senior who played for Edwardsville (25-5), scored a game- and career-high 20 points and did all he could to try to help his team go 17-0 against Southwestern Conference opponents this season. The 6-2 guard scored 17 points in the second half and 12 in the fourth quarter, but the rest of the Tigers couldn’t generate enough offense or get enough defensive stops to beat the Redbirds for the third time this season.
“It’s all about executing at the end in the game of basketball,” Colley said. “They executed more than we did in the end, and they made some good plays.”
AJ Epenesa finished with 18 points and game highs of 14 rebounds, seven assists and two blocked shots for Edwardsville, No. 2 in the STLhighschoolsports.com rankings for large schools and the fifth-ranked team in 4A in the latest Associated Press poll. And the 6-5 post player is one of four Tigers starters who are underclassmen.
Edwardsville also will return point guard Mark Smith and sharpshooter Oliver Stephen, whose 3-pointer from the corner gave the Tigers a glimmer of hope with 10 seconds left, as well as forward Caleb Strohmeier.
“This is our second year in a row losing to Alton,” said Epenesa, whose Tigers lost to the Redbirds in last year’s regional final. “So we’re going to come back ready.”
Now the Redbirds will get ready for Friday’s sectional championship game. They lost last year’s sectional final to Normal Community, which ended up placing second in the state.
A win Friday would send Alton to a Super-sectional for the first time since 2005, which would be quite an accomplishment for a team that counted Edwards as its only returning starter from last season and uses no players taller than 6-2. The Redbirds were one game over .500 at the end of January but now have won seven of their last nine games.
They’ve also matched their season high with four wins in a row, and Edwards has led the way throughout that streak.
“Nobody expected us to make it this far. Nobody expected us to win,” Edwards said. “So to keep going just means the world.”
