Collinsville has up-and-down showing at Jerseyville tournament

Scott Marion STLhighschoolsports.comstltoday.com  Posted: Wednesday, January 23, 2013 9:30 am

It wasn't the dominating performance that coach Darin Lee was looking for,  but the Collinsville boys basketball team finished the Panther Classic at  Jerseyville on a winning note.

Collinsville defeated Pittsfield 47-37 on Saturday to finish the six-team  round robin with a 3-2 record, good for second place behind Cahokia. The Kahoks'  other victories were over Alton Marquette (68-62 on Jan. 12) and Alton (57-54 on  Jan. 14), while they lost to Jerseyville (49-35 on Jan. 16) and Cahokia (62-49  on Friday).

"We had nice wins over Marquette and Alton, but we didn't play well against  Jersey and I'd like to have done better against Cahokia," said Lee, whose squad  is 9-12 overall and 1-6 in the Southwestern Conference heading into Friday's  home game against East St. Louis. "Against Pittsfield, we played better in the  second half.

"We wanted to be 4-1 instead of 3-2, but we couldn't quite pull it off.  That's a pretty strong tournament."

Senior Falando Wilkinson had 35 points against Marquette and 23 against  Alton. Wilkinson and Chris Mathes had 15 and 11 points, respectively, in the  loss to Jerseyville.

Tanner Houck (13), Wilkinson (12) and Briley Kellison (10) were all in double  figures against Cahokia. Wilkinson had a team-high 18 points against Pittsfield  while Mathes had 15 and Davis had 10.

"Wilkinson had some big games early, but he faced a lot of defensive  attention after that," Lee said. "When that happens, he has to distribute the  ball. Even LeBron James can't go one-on-three.

"Sean Davis in the post had some solid games. We rebounded well against  Cahokia, but not as well as I would like in the other games."

Wilkinson (18.6 points per game) is the only Kahok averaging in double  figures.

"Other than Falando, Mathes is probably shooting the best," Lee said. "Davis  is giving us some scoring inside, but we could use a little more. We'd like to  get better shots and get a little more fluid on offense."

For the most part, Lee is pleased with Collinsville's progress since that the  beginning of the season.

"I'd like to be over .500, but those two overtime losses (52-51 to Belleville  East and 65-64 to Providence Catholic) really hurt us," Lee said. "We'll just  have to go from here and try to get some conference wins in the second half of  the season. Most of our wins so far have been in tournaments."

The Kahoks face another tough challenge in East St. Louis (13-6,4-3), which  won the Collinsville holiday tournament in late December after a 4-6 start. The  Flyers boosted their winning streak to nine games with a 75-48 victory over  O'Fallon on Friday.

Senior DsShawn Munson (17.1 points, 11.1 rebounds per game) is the  centerpiece for East St. Louis, but the Flyers have plenty of other talent.

"They're quick and they make it tough to run your offense," Lee said.  "(Johnny) McCray is strong inside, but we have a little size to counteract  that.

"We can't match up with Munson, but you have try to slow him down and not let  him get loose on the open floor. He nearly had a quadruple-double against  O'Fallon (20 points, 13 assists, 10 steals and nine rebounds).

"We have to contain the other guys, not turn the ball over and make open  shots. If we do that, we can win the game."