Senior guard duo lifts Mascoutah past Highland in Mississippi Valley Conference game

For most of Monday night, the Highland boys basketball team had the Mascoutah Indians right where they wanted them.

But the Bulldogs could not solve two riddles that ultimately stopped them from claiming their second-straight win: Indians senior guards Justin King and Cedric Rhodes.

King exploded for a game-high 33 points and Rhodes knocked down six clutch free throws in the closing stretch as Mascoutah slipped past the Bulldogs for a 51-45 victory on Senior Band Night at Highland High School.

“I just think King took the game over,” Highland coach Deryl Cunningham said. “I think King and Rhodes are their -best two players, and I thought that showed. I thought King really took it over and I think he’s a Division I player ... we made a couple mistakes, and he took advantage of it.”

HHS started slow in the opening stanza falling behind 7-4, but an 8-5 surge capped by a Cade Altadonna layup and a Jake Ottensmeier free throw had the Bulldogs ahead by one after the first quarter.

Highland continued to battle defensively and show patience on offense, working their motion sets to near perfection against the Indians.

Late in the second quarter, King gave Mascoutah (6-0) a 21-20 lead with a driving baseline layup with 1:47 left. However, the Bulldogs closed the half strong as Matt Peterson sank a free throw and Brendan Gelly drilled a 12-foot jumper in the final seconds, giving Highland a 23-21 lead at intermission.

“I liked our pace that we played, I liked our toughness ... I liked the way we played defensively and liked the way we moved the ball,” Cunningham said. “The kids followed the game plan.”

King and Rhodes turned the tables on Highland in the second half and, as a result, the Bulldogs veered away from their game plan that was so successful in the opening 16 minutes.

“King is a tough match-up as a 6-5 guard and to his credit, I thought he took the game over. And I thought we didn’t fight through some tiredness,” Cunningham said. “We played a lot of guys a lot of minutes and we don’t have as much depth (as other teams) and I thought that caught up with us a little bit.”

Defensive rebounding also fell off slightly for Highland as the Indians got their first three buckets of the third quarter on put backs.

“You’ve got to give them credit,” Cunningham said.

Highland stayed within three to four points until the final minutes but could not close the gap as Rhodes drilled six free throws to hold off the Bulldogs.

Highland coach optimistic

Despite the outcome, Cunningham said he felt his squad continues to progress.

“I explained to our guys that we still need to take another step and that’s a game that I felt was winnable,” Cunningham said. “It was a winnable game and we had to tighten up a couple of more things and when things go a little sideways, you’ve got to stick to the game plan. But our guys fought real hard.”

Altadonna led Highland with 18 points, while Joe Jansen posted 12 points and Ottensmeier added 8 points.

Highland defeats Jerseyville

One night after the Mascoutah setback, Highland regrouped to take down Jerseyville.

After falling behind 21-18 after the first half, the host Bulldogs dug in on defense, knocked down some timely shots, and rebounded on both ends, outscoring Jerseyville 12-4 in the fourth quarter to claim a 41-34 MVC win.

“It was a great team effort where we fought through some fatigue,” Cunningham said.

The Bulldogs took the lead for good with five minutes left in the final stanza.

Cunningham said he believes the team is starting to understand what is needed to win consistently.

“They are learning the difference in playing and knowing how to win,” he said. “Playing 32 minutes with few breakdowns.”

Altadonna led HHS with 15 points while Ottensmeier added 13 points. Jansen scored 6 points and Brendan Gelly added 5.

Ian Sullvan and CJ Brunaugh led Jerseyville (4-5) with 13 and 11 points, respectively.

Highland suffers heartbreaking loss at Waterloo

An up and down week for Highland ended in heartbreaking fashion Thursday, Feb. 25.

Highland did virtually everything right in pushing to an 18-11 halftime lead at Waterloo but at game’s end it was not enough.

Host Waterloo forced overtime and then in the extra session hit a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to steal a 50-47 win.

Altadonna scored 14 points and Ottensmeier added 12 points for HHS, which slipped to 2-5 on the season.

This story was originally published February 25, 2021 at 11:00 PM.