Smith, Taylor team up to lead Collinsville past East St. Louis in SWC clash
After his game-winning shot against O’Fallon helped get Collinsvillle off and running in the Southwestern Conference, Kahoks senior Cawhan Smiith was back at it Tuesday in an early season showdown with East St. Louis.
Only this time it was on the defensive end.
Smith teamed with all-state guard Ray’Sean Taylor to create havoc for the Flyers as Collinsville rolled to a 51-36 win in a battle of state-ranked teams.
With Taylor — who went into ninth on the Kahoks all-time scoring list Tuesday — scoring nine of his game high 22 points in the first quarter, Collinsviille (6-0 overall, 2-0 in the SWC) jumped out to a 15-5 lead in the opening period over the defending Class 3A state champions.
East St. Louis (3-3), which was just 12-of-41 from the floor and 2-of-16 from beyond the 3-point line, would get no closer than six points the rest of the way. Collinsville entered play ranked fifth in the Class 4A state poll. The Flyers, who dropped to 1-1 in SWC play, are ranked fourth in Class 3A.
“It’s a pretty big win for us. We beat a good O’Fallon team on Friday and then came back and beat a good East St. Louis team tonight. I think they were ranked pretty high in the Class 3A state poll weren’t they?” Collinsville coach Darin Lee said. “I thought we did a much better job tonight on the defensive boards and Cawhan (Smith) has a way of disrupting the opposing team’s offense. He has done that for a long time now.”
Following the game, East St. Louis coach Mark Chambers met with his team for several minutes.
Smith added 11 points for the Kahoks, who built leads of 25-14 at halftime and 37-25 after three quarters.
East St. Louis senior guard Jashawn Anderson, one of only a few players returning from the Flyers state title team, scored a pair of layups to cut the Kahoks lead to eight points early in the fourth quarter.
But Taylor made a nifty move and pass to a teammate for a layup and followed with a steal and layup of his own. When Smith converted a pair of free throws, Collinsvillle’s lead was back to 43-29 with just less than five minutes left.
“Of course scoring points is fun, but I like to get the ball to my teammates as well. I like to get everyone involved early in the game,” Taylor said. “The defense was good tonight and of course it all starts with (Cawhan) Smith. He sets the tone for us.’‘
Next up
Both teams resume action at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 13, as Collinsville visits Edwardsville and the Flyers travel to Alton in SWC contests.
This story was originally published December 10, 2019 at 11:51 PM.
