Collinsville built a 22-point lead late in the third third quarter Friday against the O'Fallon Panthers and needed every bit of it.
The Panthers cut a 48-26 deficit to 50-48 with a 22-2 run, but the Kahoks regained their composure and maintained their swagger with a 64-59 victory in a Southwestern Conference game.
"I was real nervous," Collinsville senior Jaris Wellmaker. "I think we kind of relaxed. We got overwhelmed and thought the game was ours. But they came back and fought for it.
"At halftime, our coach (Darin Lee) told us they were going to make a run for us. But I didn't know they were going to make a run like that."
Wellmaker scored a season-high 20 points, senior Daryn Foster had 14 and senior Devonta Crochrell added 13 as the Kahoks improved to 20-3 overall and 8-1 in the SWC. They lead the second-place Edwardsville Tigers by one game.
Junior Jason Kusnerick chipped in with nine points for Collinsville and senior Caleb Johnson made two free throws with 2.7 seconds left to seal the outcome.
"That happens sometimes," Lee said of the Kahoks' near-collapse. "I've even lost leads that big --and lost the game. That could happen."
But it didn't, and Collinsville won on the Panthers' court for the first time since Dec. 14, 2001, a 51-48 decision in overtime. Since then, O'Fallon had won nine straight at home over the Kahoks.
"We played awfully well," Lee said. "We were up big and we got a big road win. And we hadn't won here in a long time. It's been a while."
Senior Michael Jackson led O'Fallon (16-5, 5-3) with 23 points. Senior Roy Bullock III had 20 points, including 13 in the fourth quarter.
Bullock already had made three 3-pointers in the fourth period and had a wide-open look from beyond the arc with O'Fallon trailing 62-59.
But Bullock dribbled inside the 3-point line and missed a two-pointer, and senior Isaac Bouquet fouled Johnson, who the clinching free throws.
"That's a move of his. He's so used to kids running out on him," O'Fallon coach Rick Gibson said of Bullock. "We didn't have any timeouts at that point, but I had just called him over right before that and said, 'Hey, we're going to have to have a 3. We don't have any timeouts; we don't have any way to stop (the clock).'
"He knew that. He's a smart kid and he understands basketball. I think instinct took over. He pump-faked, they all jumped and he decided to dribble in there. He realized right afterwards that he had a (mental) lapse."
The Kahoks shot 48 percent (21-for-44), including 12-for-23 in the first half (52 percent). O'Fallon shot 38 percent (20-for-53). Both teams had nine turnovers.
Collinsville led 19-14 after one quarter and 32-19 at halftime as Wellmaker dominated with 15 points. The Kahoks led 39-26 early in the third quarter, then scored nine straight points to surge ahead 48-26 with 2:22 to play.
The Panthers closed the third quarter with six consecutive points to make it 48-32, then reeled off the first 10 points of the fourth quarter to get within 48-42. Bullock had a basket and two 3-pointers in the uprising.
Wellmaker made two free throws to end the 16-0 push, but Bullock and freshman Donovan Franklin made back-to-back 3-pointers to make it 50-48 with 4:55 left.
Collinsville went ahead 58-52 on Foster's layup on a nice feed from Crochrell and boosted the margin to 61-54 on two free throws by Kusnerick at the 38.8-second mark. But Jackson hit a 3-pointer, and after a turnover by Kusnerick, Bullock hit a short jumper to make it 61-59 with 18 seconds remaining.
Foster was fouled and made one of two free throws to make it 62-59 with 12.4 seconds left, leading to O'Fallon's frustrating final chance.
Lee said the Kahoks learned a lesson about playing with the lead.
"We had great shots that we missed," he said. "We would have liked to run a little clock. But they were wide-open shots and we missed every one of them. And they made every one of them. We needed to run some clock there. It will be a lesson learned. Of course, if we make one or two of those shots that are wide-open, probably the game is over."
Gibson was proud of his team's comeback, but was anything but pleased with its overall performance.
"To beat Collinsville, you've got to play four quarters," he said. "We played a great fourth quarter and a pretty good first half of the first quarter. That middle of the second quarter did us in. We didn't put four quarters together.
"We're not into moral victories where we're at in our program, by any means. But what we take out of it is we could have rolled over and got blown out. We didn't. We battled back and showed some heart. We showed we can play with these guys. Hopefully, we get another shot at them."
