Belleville East coasts to decisive victory in 3rd place game of Collinsville tournament

Belleville East dominated Rockford East in the third place game of the 38th annual Prairie Farms Collinsville Holiday Classic on Friday night.

The Lancers led from beginning to end as they rolled past the E-Rabs 82-54 to improve to 13-1 on the season.

“I was happy with the energy we brought after losing a tough one last night,” coach Jeff Creek said, referencing a 71-65 semifinal loss to eventual tourney champion Decatur MacArthur. “The last three games of the tournament we played hard so I’m pleased with the effort.”

Belleville senior and SIU-Edwardsville recruit Jordan Pickett led the Lancers with 24 points. Pickett said he felt the the third place game was a good bounce back outing for the team.

“We had our first loss of the season so we needed to bounce back,” said Pickett, who was selected tournament Most Valuable Player. “I felt like it started with me so I had to lead by example.”

Rockford East fell to 7-8 while suffering its second lose of the season to a Southwestern Conference opponent. Coach Roy Sackmaster noted losing in Thursday’s semifinal round was a stinger that led to rough play against the Lancers.

“Much credit to Belleville East, they came out in a business-like manner and moved on from yesterday’s lose,” Sackmaster said.

The Lancers raced to a 10-2 lead in the first quarter thanks to two treys from Pickett and buckets from Alex Jackson. Rockford East got baskets from Antonio Lewis and JT Samuels to cut the deficit to six points at end of the quarter.

After falling behind by double-digits, the E-Rabs went on a 8-0 run led by Lewis’ five points points. Belleville East ended the quarter on a 12-1 surge to go up 33-22 after Pickett’s and-1 bucket.

Rockford East cut the deficit to 40-32 with eight points combined from Lewis and Samuel. The Lancers, however, responded, posting a 12-0 run to extend the lead to 20 points. Pickett, Darren Singleton, and Antwine Wilson keyed the decisive surge.

Pickett then shook the arena with a posterizing dunk in the fourth quarter for a commanding 70-44 edge. The game was out of touch for the E-Rabs after that.

Along with Pickett’s performance, Singleton chipped in 13 points while Wilson and Jackson posted 12 points apiece.

Besides Pickett winning MVP, Wilson, Althoff’s Jordan Lewis and Collinsville’s Jake Wilkinson and Zach Chambers made the all-tournament team.

A Look ahead

Belleville East will continue SWC play at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 3, as they visit the O’Fallon Panthers.

This story was originally published December 30, 2022 at 11:51 PM.