Collinsville controlled the game against Triad Friday from start to finish, coasting to a 75-29 victory in the consolation bracket of the Schnucks Holiday Classic.
Sean Davis in action against Triad / Photo by Roger Starkey
The Kahoks (4-7) trailed for about 10 seconds in the game and snared their first win since Nov. 27, snapping a seven-game losing streak. The Knights (1-10) dropped their ninth consecutive decision.
Despite Triad’s dire record, the team has competed well, Collinsville Head Coach Darin Lee said.
“Triad has played some teams pretty good, Althoff, they had Chatham-Glenwood down one in the fourth quarter. They have been surprising to me,” Lee said. “I was worried about the game going in, that we could win. When you haven’t won a game in a month, the outcome was more than surprising.”
Third seed Althoff beat the Knights 54-45 Thursday in a game that went back and forth throughout. The game against Collinsville started bad for Triad and never improved.
The Kahoks used nine players and a pressure man-to-man defense to force five Triad turnovers in the first quarter. Collinsville led 18-10 after one on the strength of eight points from Brett Langley and seven from Sean Davis.
The pressure defense was part of a strategy to take advantage of Collinsville’s depth. “We tried to wear them down,” Lee said. “We have numbers, even without a couple of guys playing.” Nic Gonet, who left the game against Urbana Thursday with an injury, and Emondre Rickman were the only Kahoks to not play Friday. It is not clear why Rickman did not play. He was used sparingly, and only in the third quarter, of the Dec. 20 71-50 loss to Alton. Lee declined to comment on Rickman’s lack of playing time after that game.
Triad’s Matt Mersinger kept his team in the game early, scoring eight of his team-high 12 points in the first quarter. Mersinger took advantage of spotty interior defense to get good looks at the basket from close range. Several teammates had the same opportunity, but did not convert.
Jacob Shaffer, getting his first start since suffering an injury in the Edwardsville game on Dec. 6, asserted himself offensively in the second quarter, scoring eight of his 13 in the quarter. Lee said Shaffer’s return helps the team beyond the points he scored.
“He’s getting back, that certainly helped us,” Lee said. “He’s a little stronger, he gives us a ball handler and a rebounder, and he’s a senior.” The Kahoks have only three seniors on the roster.
A night after being on the wrong end of a 19-0 run to end the first half and begin the second, the Kahoks put up a 24-2 run to wrap around the half, and salt the game away. Triad managed only four third-quarter points. The Knights emptied their bench for the fourth quarter, and scored only three in the final period.
After the game, Lee said his team was “better” than they have been during the losing streak.
“It’s a lot more fun to win,” Lee said. “We’ve played some really good teams; it’s a tough schedule we’ve played. You can get down easy, everybody, coaches and players, it’s hard.”
Collinsville will have less than 24 hours to savor the victory. The Kahoks advanced in the consolation bracket to play Quincy (4-5) at 2:30 p.m. Saturday in the auxiliary gym behind Vergil Fletcher Gymnasium. The Blue Devils lost 56-41 to Chicago Marshall Thursday and defeated Decatur Eisenhower 46-37 Friday.
Scoring for Collinsville was: Langley-14, Shaffer-13, Wilkinson-10, Davis-9, Moore-7, Midgett-6, Wethers-6, Wellmaker-2, Buehne-2.
