Belleville East pulls away in 4th quarter to secure rivalry win against Belleville West

In a cross-town rivalry match-up, Belleville East’s top scorers carried the load to get the best of Belleville West in a tight game.

The Lancers and Maroons had a lot of back and forth scoring throughout, but Belleville East ultimately prevailed 66-57 while improving to 14-2 overall and 4-1 in Southwestern conference action.

“I’m happy that we got the win, but we’ve got work to do when it comes to defensive rebounding,” Lancers coach Jeff Creek said. “We missed it (the rivalry) during COVID, we’re supposed to have big crowds here and I thought it was a great atmosphere.”

Belleville East star guard Jordan Pickett led the Lancers with 24 points. Pickett enjoyed the intensified bragging rights game against Belleville West.

“The Belleville West and Belleville East game is one of the biggest games of the year every season,” Pickett said. “It’s the battle of Belleville so it’s all about the respect and bragging rights.”

Belleville West, meanwhile, fell to 6-8, 1-4. Coach Alex Schobert was satisfied with his team’s play in the hostile environment at Belleville East.

“We just didn’t finish enough possessions in the second half and it went the other way, but I’m extremely proud of how our kids played,” Schobert said. “The effort was there tonight — you can’t let the results deter you and we have to keep building on that.”

The first quarter saw several lead changes as both teams secured baskets from multiple players. Pickett led the Lancers on a 6-1 run to end the quarter for a 14-8 lead.

The Maroons got off to a hot start with a 10-6 run through the first five minutes of the second quarter with points from Quincy Cotton and Myles Liddell. Belleville East had a rough quarter but still had a two-point lead entering intermission.

Both teams were tied at 32 points as the crowd roared in an intense environment through the first three minutes of the third quarter. Pickett took the game over in the last five minutes with six points during a 15-8 East run heading into the final eight minutes.

Belleville East maintained the lead throughout the entire fourth quarter, keyed by buckets from Antwine Wilson to get the win.

Wilson finished with 23 points for the Lancers. Myles Liddell carried the Maroons with 19.

Next conference game

Both teams resume league play at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 10, as the Lancers face East St. Louis at Lindenwood-Belleville and the Maroons entertain Edwardsville.

This story was originally published January 7, 2023 at 12:13 AM.