Smith sparks Tigers with another clutch performance, he singles out teammates for their work

EDWARDSVILLE – Edwardsville's basketball team held only a 34-30 lead on O'Fallon at the half of their Southwestern Conference game at Lucco-Jackson Gym Friday night.

The Tigers answered with a big run to open the third period to extend their lead to 53-37 at three-quarter time went on to record 75-58 win over the Panthers.

“That's what we always try to come out of the gates like in the second half,” said Mark Smith following Friday's win. “Don't give a team any momentum; we really rebounded well after the first quarter. We got a lot of boards; the coaches made sure we boxed out and got every rebound.

“I think they might have gotten one in the second half, but we did a great job. Caleb (Strohmeier) was down there banging all night, grabbing boards; I thought he did a great job.”

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The Panthers hung close with the Tigers in the first half. “We had a couple of missed communications on defense,” Smith said. “They got a couple of long rebounds when we were right there; otherwise, I thought we did great.”

Edwardsville's defense helped the Tigers on their second-half breakout. “I thought we really played great as a team,” Smith said. “Jalen Hodge, he's a really good scorer; Alex (Orr), he can get to the basket and make shots. I thought we guarded really well.

“Jackson Best and Nathan Kolesa really did a great job tonight stopping Jalen (Hodge). I think they're a good team too, they beat Belleville East last week. I thought we came out and had a great game plan; I thought we executed it perfectly.”

Smith has been on a tear in recent games; he wound up with 34 points against the Panthers to go with games in the 30s and high 20s as of late, including 26 against East St. Louis, 35 against Belleville Althoff in the Collinsville Holiday Classic final, 30 against Springfield Southeast in the semifinal of the Collinsville tournament; Smith has taken over ninth place in the list of the St. Louis area's leading scorers with a 22.9 point per-game average.

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