Belleville East posts strong Southwestern Conference road win against Collinsville

Belleville East coach Jeff Creek undoubtedly liked what he saw from his team Friday night at Collinsville.

And for good reason. The Lancers quickly regrouped from Tuesday’s tough 72-71 loss to East St. Louis with a solid 54-46 road victory against the Kahoks.

Creek’s squad improved to 16-3 overall and 5-2 in the Southwestern Conference.

“We knew it was going to be a tough game,” he said. “It was a good team effort. Lots of guys contributed. We shared the ball, played good defense. I’m really happy with the win.”

Furthermore, East’s response to Tuesday’s loss thrilled Creek.

“It really showed our senior leadership,” he said “I know we gave so much effort Tuesday night and I was worried about the energy we’d have. We came out and played hard from the start and played hard the whole game.”

SIUE commit Jordan Pickett led East with 21 points, while Antwine Wilson chipped in with 16 points.

“The key was really was just sharing the basketball,” Creek said. “They played a 2-3 zone most of the game. But we were attacking and taking good shots. We played good, solid man-to-man defense and did a really good job with our defensive rebounding.”

Collinsville, meanwhile, dropped to 13-7 overall and 3-4 in the SWC. Kahoks coach Darin Lee praised the Lancers while noting positives from his team.

“They were just better than us tonight,” he said. “We just didn’t play well enough to win. They’re a good team. We just didn’t have enough good offensive possessions, but they did a nice job of pressuring us. I thought we rebounded well enough. We were 10-for-10 from the line; we definitely shot our free throws well. We just didn’t put enough offensive possessions together to win the game.”

Jake Wilkenson led Collinsville with 16 points. The Kahoks — who lost to the Lancers 69-66 earlier this season — are now 13-7 overall and 3-4 in the SWC.

“I thought our half court defense, we did alright there,” Lee said. “We definitely guarded them better than the last game. We did alright. We held our own on the glass. They’re a good team. They were just better than us ... we’ll just continue to work. We hope we have a good week in their tournament next week.”

A look ahead

Both teams will compete in the Chick-fil-A Classic at Belleville East high school this week.

The Lancers open tournament action at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 17, against McCluer. The Kahoks kick off tournament play at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 18, against Lift for Life.

This story was originally published January 13, 2023 at 11:07 PM.