Anfirnee Wilkinson scored 23 points – his most since scoring 33 in the fourth game of the season – to lead Collinsville to a 60-40 victory over Belleville West Friday at Vergil Fletcher Gym.
Emondre Rickman soars for a basket against Belleville West / Photo by Roger Starkey
The Kahoks shot 52.5 percent (21-40) from the floor on the night, including 7-12 from 3-point range. The Maroons (1-5 Southwestern Conference, 3-9) struggled to find the bottom of the net, making only 15 of 56 shots.
Belleville West missed many open opportunities, but the Collinsville defense played well, CHS Head Coach Darin Lee said. “Our defense has gotten better,” Lee said. “And we have the big fella (Emondre Rickman) in there to guard the rim; that helps clean up some mistakes.” Rickman blocked four shots and altered several others.
Eugene Jones entered the game averaging 10.3 points to lead West, but did not score against Collinsville. Jeff Wicker’s 13 points paced Belleville West.
The West defense sagged down on Rickman and the Collinsville big men. Wilkinson and Brett Langley made the Maroons pay, knocking down three baskets each from beyond the arc. Langley scored 14 points in the game.
“I think Emondre posting hard opened up some of those shots for our guards,” Lee said. “We’re going to have to make those shots. When we played Quincy and (Belleville) East we did not do it and we lost. Tonight we did, and we won,” Lee said.
Collinsville (2-5 SWC, 6-9) jumped out to a 10-2 first quarter lead, with Wilkinson scoring seven of his team’s first 10 points. Wilkinson finished the quarter with 10 of his game-high 23 points and two of the Kahoks four 3-pointers
Despite allowing only eight points, grabbing eight offensive rebounds and forcing four turnovers in the second quarter, the Maroons were only able to trim the Collinsville lead to seven points (26-19) at the half.
Wilkinson drained a 3-pointer to open a 10-point lead for Collinsville at the start of the third quarter. Cabe Dibadj answered with the Maroons’ first 3-pointer to slice the lead to seven. Belleville West was never able to pull closer.
West turned up the pressure late in the third quarter and throughout the fourth, pressing, trapping and overplaying every pass. The result was more fouls than turnovers. Collinsville surrendered the ball five times in the second half and shot 18 free throws. Wilkinson made five and Langley two in the fourth quarter to seal the Kahoks’ 20-point victory. CHS made only 11 of 20 free throws in the game.
Scoring for Collinsville was: Wilkinson-23, Langley-14, Rickman-8, Wethers-6, Shaffer-4, Davis-3, Chambers-2
The victory was the second straight for Collinsville, their first back-to-back wins since opening the season with three consecutive wins. After dropping seven straight, the Kahoks have won 3 of 5.
“We got into a run in December where we just ran into some really good teams, and that can get your confidence down,” Lee said. “We have a big game tomorrow night and hopefully we can string some victories together and get a little confidence.”
The Kahoks travel to Jerseyville Saturday to play the host team in the Jerseyville tournament. Tip off is set for 7:45 p.m. Collinsville also plays Alton Marquette, Cahokia and Pittsfield in the weeklong tournament. Schedule details are available here.
