Ethan Young Serves As Defensive Spark Plug For Edwardsville Basketball Team, Thinks Tigers Have Something To Prove
EDWARDSVILLE - Edwardsville senior boys basketball forward Ethan Young is one of the catalysts for the Tigers' team this season, oftentimes guarding the opponent's leading scorer, and also oftentimes holding him too far below his season's scoring average.
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It's one of the reasons that Edwardsville has enjoyed a remarkable turnaround season, currently on a 10-game winning streak and currently 20-7 after defeating Mascoutah 73-39 last Friday night at Lucco-Jackson Gym. It was a game where Edwardsville honored Lincoln High School in pregame ceremonies, and the team dressed in throwback uniforms as the 1951-52 Trojans team for the game.
The Trojans came out and set the tone right from the start in what was perhaps their best performance of the season.
"Man, we just came out here and we balled," a very happy and enthusiastic Young said during a postgame interview. "If we play like this, there's no stopping us, and I have full, 100 percent confidence in this team, that we can do this here."
The Trojans had a big second quarter, with a 12-2 run at the end of the period that put Lincoln up 37-19 at halftime, and then only allowed the Indians two field goals, both late in the period, and five points in the third quarter. The Trojans were also hitting their shots consistently throughout the game. It's a very confident team right now, and Young credits the chemistry and togetherness of the players for their current success.
"It's the chemistry this team has," Young said. "I've played on many basketball teams; there's no one like this. Everybody gets along, we go out here every day, we're with each other three hours a day except Saturday. It's fun to play with these dudes. So, when we have the energy, there's no stopping. Everybody's going to do what they've got to do. It's all love here."
It's a family atmosphere on the team that's very important to Young and his teammates, where the team works hard and plays together for each other.
""This is my family. This is what it's like," Young said.
Young came out very confident, and it showed in his own performance against Mascoutah.
"I felt confident," Young said. "The new uniforms gave us a boost of energy, we got to wear our own shoes, it's just a lot of factors, that just everybody loved. We've got a lot of energy, and we just came up from the zone. Especially me. I was taking pride in my defense, defense turned to offense, got me a three-pointer. It just felt good tonight, it was just something different jumped to me."
"I feel real confident," Young said on the rest of the season. "I think we're at 10 or 11 wins in a row now, we've got a good flow going, we play against my boys from Collinsville. We've got a chip on our shoulder, because people don't believe in us. After coming off a season like last year, nobody believes in us. So we've got nothing to lose. We're going to go in there, and we're going to do what we've got to do."
The 20-win season is a remarkable turnaround, definitely one of the best of its kind in the entire St. Louis-area this season. And Young agreed it's a tremendous feeling.
"Yeah, a season like last year, there wasn't energy; everybody was used to losing," Young said. "Everybody was fine with losing. But this year, it's different. We're a whole different team, we've got a whole different vibe. We're coming different. We've got something to prove. I love this team, man, I love this team."
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