Collinsville – Collinsville entered the fourth quarter Tuesday with a two-point lead against the second place team in the Southwestern Conference, but could not overcome an 8-0 run halfway through the quarter, losing 60-56.

Jacob Shaffer / Photo by Roger Starkey

Sean Davis’ tip-in basket as the third-quarter buzzer sounded stopped a Belleville East 7-0 run and gave the Kahoks (4-9 SWC, 12-15) a 41-39 lead heading into the final quarter. Brett Langley started the period with a 3-pointer to give Collinsville its first lead since 9-8 in the first quarter, and went on to score 11 of Collinsville’s 18 points in the quarter.

The Lancers (9-3, 18-8), however, saved their best for last, outscoring Collinsville 21-15 in the final stanza to record their second four-point victory over the Kahoks this season.

A bucket from East’s Cameron Hunter knotted the game at 41 early in the fourth quarter. Collinsville promptly regained the lead on an Emondre Rickman basket, before a 3-pointer from Lancer freshman EnRico Sylvester started a string of four consecutive possessions that saw the lead change hands.

Sylvester answered a Jacob Shaffer basket with another 3-pointer to give East a 47-45 lead. On the next possession, Rickman passed out of a double-team to Nic Gonet, who drained a 3-pointer with 6 minutes and 20 seconds remaining to give Collinsville a 48-47 lead, its final lead of the game.

East responded to Gonet’s triple by going on an 8-0 run, capped by a Darreon Reddick basket with 3:25 remaining, to give the Lances a 55-48 lead. A pair of Rickman free throws with 11.3 seconds remaining narrowed the East lead to 59-56, before Hunter made the first half of a one-and-one with 9.4 on the clock, to ice the game.

Collinsville attempted to contain Reddick, the Lancers leading scorer coming into the game at 13.9, with a box-and-one defense but the hot shooting guard and his teammates made the Kahoks pay. Reddick was 9-12 from the field on the night and the team combined to shoot 61.9 percent for the game.

The box-and-one defense confused the Lancers for a time, allowing the Kahoks to take the lead, Collinsville Head Coach Darin Lee said, but East eventually made his team pay.

“They just flat made some shots,” Lee said.

Lee was reluctant to go to his team’s preferred man-to-man defense because his two best defenders, who rotated on Reddick throughout the game, are both at least a couple of inches shorter than the 6-foot-3 Reddick.

“Maybe we could have come out of it (the box-and-one) earlier,” Lee said. “We ended up with better results from the man-to-man the last time.”

Reddick scored 15 of the Lancer’s 40 points in their 40-36 win over Collinsville on Jan. 10.

East, on the other hand, was more successful containing their defensive targets. The Lancers set out to clamp down on Anfirnee Wilkinson, Collinsville’s leading scorer at 13.7 points per game, and Rickman.

Rickman bettered his 7.2 season average with 12 points, but he did so on only five shot attempts. In addition to making 4 of 5 from the field, the 6-foot-8 junior center was a perfect 4-4 from the charity stripe.

Wilkinson managed only 7 points on 3-11 shooting. As a whole, the Kahoks shot 48.9 percent from the floor and out-rebounded the Lancers 24-20. Collinsville committed 15 turnovers while forcing 12.

Collinsville has lost three of its last four, with the losses coming to the top three teams in the conference. The Kahoks lost the three games by a combined 15 points, including a 10-point loss to Edwardsville, who scored eight of their 12 fourth-quarter points in the final two minutes.

Lee said the team is playing well, but not getting the wins to show for it.

“It’s tough on the kids and it’s tough on the coaches. It’s black and white, you either win or you lose, there is no gray area in sports,” Lee said. “We feel like we’re playing alright, we just haven’t been able to beat the top-five teams in the conference.

The Kahoks get another crack at a top-five team when they conclude their regular season at East St. Louis Friday. The Flyers are fifth in the Southwestern Conference. Collinsville is sixth.

Prior to the varsity game, the Kahoks’  junior varsity team beat their Lancer counterparts 57-47. Scoring for the Kahoks were: Buehne-22, Page-11, Midgett-10, Maden-5, Robinette-5, Lyons-2, Flora-2.

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