GODFREY — Edwardsville senior Mark Smith has been making his presence felt during the 2016-17 season and Tuesday was no different.
Smith poured in a game-high 32 points as the Tigers defeated Southwestern Conference rival Alton on the road 59-48.
With the win EHS improved to 17-1 overall and 6-1 in the SWC. Tuesday marked the 13th win in a row for the Tigers. The loss dropped the Redbirds to 9-8 overall and 4-4 in league action.
Smith was a load for the Birds, slamming home several eye-popping dunks and completing a couple traditional 3-point plays around the basket on his way to his 32 points, which were accompanied by 11 rebounds and 4 assists.
“He’s a good player,” Alton head coach Eric Smith said. “There’s not too much else to say, he can play. He’s a grown man.”
Indiana University head coach Tom Crean was on hand to watch Edwardsville’s Smith, adding to the list of Division I colleges such as Illinois, Kansas State, Northwestern and DePaul coveting him. Smith is honored by the attention, but said he doesn’t let it distract him from his job.
“It’s exciting to have those guys there and I’m blessed with that opportunity to have Tom Crean and his assistant coach come watch me, but I’m just out there trying to win the game,” Mark Smith said. “I’m worried about the team, I don’t really care about myself that much. I want to win and do everything I can possibly do to win.”
Fellow EHS senior Oliver Stephen, who finished with 11 points, including a trio of fourth-quarter treys, said Smith has become so much more strong and explosive. Stephen said it’s a product of hard work.
“I really think it’s that he’s gotten a lot better and can jump a lot higher,” Stephen said. “Obviously he’s put a lot of time in the gym over the summer and his shot has gotten a lot better.”
With 6-foot-5 center A.J. Epenesa on the bench after returning from the Polynesian Bowl in Hawaii where he was the defensive MVP on Saturday, the Tigers understood they had their hands full with Alton’s guard play Tuesday.
AHS was without senior Maurice Edwards for a fifth straight game. Edwards hurt his ankle vs. Collinsville on Jan. 3, missing much of the second half of that game. He only played sparingly against Belleville on Jan. 6 and has been out since.
Ty’ohn Trimble and Kevin Caldwell, Jr. have stepped up their guard play and Edwardsville head coach Mike Waldo knew he had to limit them on Tuesday. Trimble finished with 7 and Caldwell netted 6 points in the loss, with neither scoring more than one basket in any given quarter.
“Those guards are good,” Waldo said. “(Trimble) and (Caldwell) are good and I thought Caleb (Strohmeier) and Jack (Marinko) did a really good job of guarding them and I thought that was a big part of the game.”
But coach Smith said that opened the door for someone else to step up and that someone was 6-2 senior Dereaun Clay. He finished with a team-high 20 points, with 16 of them coming in the second half. His 6 points during an 8-point scoring spree to open the third quarter gave Alton its first lead since early in the contest at 27-24.
“He was more active in the second half and that’s what we need him to do,” coach Smith said. “He’s got to assert himself a little bit.”
Clay had the Birds within striking distance in the fourth quarter also. His bucket with 5:44 remaining cut it to 39-37, but Stephen answered with a 3-pointer to extend the EHS lead to 42-37.
Stephen then added back-to-back treys at the 3:43 and 3:15 marks to balloon the Tiger advantage to 52-39 and put the game out of reach.
“I have to say that was a big part with Jackson Best coming off the bench and getting some steals,” Stephen said. “I could get out in transition because of that and my teammates were able to find me.”
It was tight early with Edwardsville clinging to a 10-9 lead after one quarter and leading just 24-19 at the break.
A 6-0 second-quarter run put the Tigers ahead 24-14 with 2:27 to play in the first half. Strohmeier hit a shot and Smith added two free throws and a basket, but Alton answered with a 3-pointer from Trimble and two from the charity stripe by Caldwell to head into the locker room down by five.
The Redbirds played pretty solid defense until midway through the fourth quarter according to their coach, which kept it close.
“Defensively we were OK for the most part until the end,” coach Smith said. “We had a few fairly big breakdowns, but offensively we just kind of went away from some of the stuff we’ve had success with. We’ve been getting a lot of paint touches and we were kind of passive tonight.”
EHS’ Smith was happy to escape with a win over the Birds.
“Alton’s a good team and our plan was to take away Kevin and Ty’ohn, they’re good basketball players who can score,” Smith said. “That’s just coach Waldo’s preparation, every time having an answer… We’re just out there executing.”
Alton returns to action at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Granite City, while the Tigers will look to avenge their only loss of the season. They play host to Belleville West at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Lucco-Jackson Gym. The Maroons bested Edwardsville 59-53 during the SWC at the E Shootout on Dec. 3 at SIUE.
SOUTHWESTERN CONFERENCE
EDWARDSVILLE 59, ALTON 48
Tigers 10 14 13 22 — 59
Redbirds 9 10 12 17 — 48
Tigers (17-1, 6-1) — Jack Marinko 5, Mark Smith 32, Oliver Stephen 11, Caleb Strohmeier 7, Jackson Best 2, Malik Robinson 2. 2FG — 18 3FG — 5 FT — 8 PF — 8.
Redbirds (9-8, 4-4) — Dereaun Clay 20, Ty’ohn Trimble 7, Donovan Clay 6, Kevin Caldwell, Jr. 6, Damion Reid 6, Tyler Springman 3. 2FG — 16 3FG — 4 FT — 4 PF — 15.
