BELLEVILLE — The Alton Redbirds took the defending Class 3A state champion Althoff Crusaders to the brink of defeat on Tuesday at the Chick-fil-A Classic at Belleville East High School.
Alton was tied with the Crusaders on seven occasions and led four times in the second half, but ultimately fell 87-85. It was the most points for an AHS team since a 94-61 win over Cahokia on Dec. 30, 2014 in Centralia.
With the loss the Redbirds dipped to 7-7 on the season, losing for the fifth time in six tries, while Althoff improved to 11-4 with the victory.
Following consecutive lopsided losses to Belleville West (71-46) and East St. Louis (76-36) on the road, Alton head coach Eric Smith was pleased to see the life out of his squad, but he wasn't surprised.
“It’s the same conversation we continue to have,” Smith said. “We feel like if we’re competitive, we have a shot. We haven’t been overly competitive for about a two-and-a-half week stretch. It was kind of nice to see a little fight from our kids. I expected it, I just didn't see it for a couple of weeks. We've got resilient kids and it's a long season. Our schedule doesn't help us. Even our non-conference stuff, it's Champaign Central, St. Mary's, there are some quality teams we've played in some tournaments. Hopefully the end result is what we hope for and it tests us a little bit for the postseason.”
Crusaders' head coach Greg Lieb wasn't surprised to see the fight out of the Birds on Tuesday either. He knew Smith would have his team prepared for the showdown.
“Coach Smith does a great job, that's why he's right there every year at the end,” Lieb said. “I don't even know that he's upset people, the way he gets his guys going I think it's legit. They do a great job and they battled tonight. They were patient, didn't take bad shots, they got what they wanted and they were right there in the ball game.”
Of course Saint Louis University recruit Jordan Goodwin is the X factor for Althoff. He was wearing a brace on his shoulder which he separated in a 74-67 loss to East St. Louis on Jan. 7 at the Highland Shootout, but it didn't seem to slow him. He led all scorers with 29 points in the game.
Alton was without senior standout Maurice Edwards again. Edwards is rehabbing an ankle injury he suffered on Jan. 3 at Collinsville.
“That brace does a pretty good job of stabilizing it,” Lieb said of Goodwin's shoulder. “But you never know in these situations. As hard has he plays you never know, some things just happen.”
The Redbirds had three scorers surpass the 20-point plateau in the high-scoring affair. Ty'ohn Trimble led the way with 24 points, while Kevin Caldwell Jr. and Dereaun Clay each netted 21.
Smith raved of the play of Caldwell as the season has progressed.
“Poppy (Caldwell) through everything (this season) has played well,” Smith said. “He's a fighter. He may have struggled with shooting the last two or three games, but I think a little bit of that is we've struggled and he's tried to put it on his shoulders, but he's done everything else. He's guarding people, he's rebounding, he's taken at least one charge in the last four or five games. He's a complete kid.”
Lieb was impressed with Trimble's play. Listed at 5-foot-5, the senior guard isn't afraid to tangle with players in the paint if it's called for.
“He finishes well over the trees,” Lieb said of Trimble. “He really does. We're swinging at it left and right and he's just calm and cool, a nice change of pace. He's what Le'Veon Bell hopes he could be running the football.”
The tempo was set early Tuesday and it was destined to be fast paced and high scoring. When the buzzer sounded on the first quarter, Althoff was up 22-17, but Alton wasted little time catching back up. Dereaun Clay logged consecutive buckets to open the second quarter and cut it to 22-21.
The Crusaders took their biggest lead of the second quarter when Goodwin knocked down a trey with 46 seconds left to make it 42-35. Caldwell answered with a 3-pointer of his own with 38 seconds to go and the Redbirds went into the locker room down 42-38.
Alton took its first lead since less than a minute into the game when Dereaun Clay scored at the 4:54 mark of the third quarter to put his team up 51-50. Sophomore Donovan Clay added a basket shortly after to extend it to 53-50.
Althoff got a couple traditional 3-point plays from Bryson Strong and Melvin Brock late in the third to go up 63-60, but Dereaun Clay scored again for AHS with 4.3 seconds to go to cut it to 63-62 entering the fourth quarter.
Terrance Walker of the Birds opened the final frame with a score to give Alton a 64-63 lead. Unfortunately it proved to be AHS' final lead of the game.
The Redbirds tied it three more times, but could never get over the hump. The last tie came on a Trimble basket with 2:55 to play, knotting it 74-74.
A Caldwell score had Alton within striking distance at 83-82 with 12.2 seconds remaining, but a turnover killed its chances. Edwyn Brown of Althoff hit four free throws down the stretch to secure the win. Trimble's 3-pointer as time expired made it 87-85.
The Redbirds now play McCluer, which lost 78-62 to Belleville West on Tuesday. The Birds and Comets meet at 6 p.m. Thursday. West and the Crusaders meet at 6 p.m. Friday in the tournament semifinals.
Smith hopes the effort from Tuesday will carry over into the game with McCluer.
“It will be awfully frustrating to come out here and have a game like this, be close and then come out with no energy and no effort the next night,” he said. “As a coaching staff that's our goal over these next couple of days and compete. We feel like if we come out of this at 2-1 we'll be OK. Any thing less than that is going to be a little frustrating for us.”
CHICK-FIL-A CLASSIC
(opening round)
ALTHOFF 87, ALTON 85
Redbirds 17 21 24 23 — 85
Crusaders 22 20 21 24 — 87
Redbirds (7-7) — Dereaun Clay 21, Ty'ohn Trimble 24, Donovan Clay 10, Kevin Caldwell Jr. 21, Morris Adams 2, Darrell Smith 4, Terrance Walker 3. 2FG — 25 3FG — 9 FT — 8 PF — 16.
Crusaders (11-4) — Edwyn Brown 16, C.J. Colden 14, Dante Ray 10, Jordan Goodwin 29, Marvin Bateman 12, Bryson Strong 3, Melvin Brock 3. 2FG — 28 3FG — 6 FT — 13 PF — 14.