Belleville West turns up defense in come-from-behind win against Mascoutah
After learning the ropes in the first month of the season. Greg Wells may be on his way to being a force for the Belleville West Maroons.
A transfer from Althoff, Wells scored a season-high 27 points and the Maroons defense held the Mascoutah 3-point attack in check in the second half as West rallied for a 67-48 home win Friday.
With junior guard Braden Bryant connecting on two of the Indians six 3-point baskets and scoring 12 of his 15 points, the Indians (6-6) led by as many as as five points in the opening stanza and held a 30-29 advantage at halftime.
But with junior Tommie Williams shutting down Bryant while combining with Wells for 24 second half points, the Maroons pulled away early in the fourth quarter.
West, which posted an impressive fifth place finish at the recent Centralia Holiday Tournament, has won four of its last five games to improve to 7-6.
“We actually saw the improvement the day before the Centralia Tournament. The players are buying into what we want them to do. and we’re improving every day. But we still have a ways to go,” West coach Alex Schobert said.
“I thought we did a good job on the boards, which is something we talked about. The first half tonight, we were out on the Mascoutah 3-point shooters. But they were making them anyway. The second half we got a little more aggressive. We had to fly around a little more on defense in the second half.”
Wells, a 6-2 guard, was “flying” around the court from the outset Friday. Connecting on his first two 3-point attempts., Wells scored 10 points in the first quarter and nearly matched Bryant with 14 points in the first two quarters.
“Transferring from Althoff, from a team chemistry point, Greg has fit right in with his team from the first day. Basketball wise, I think it’s taken time for him to adjust to how we do things here,” Schobert said. “He has done a great job of learning what we want him to do to help this basketball team be successful.”
Mascoutah coach Justin Love was pleased with his team’s first-half showing, but thought West’s athletes and dominance on the backboards keyed the outcome.
Love also noted the tempo hurt his team in the second half.
“We shot the ball well in the first half. But in the second half, I thought we tried to drive the basketball inside and take it to the basket more. That wasn’t by design,” Love said. “The speed of the game got faster.”
Nevertheless, Mascoutah only trailed 42-39 entering the fourth quarter, but an 8-0 Maroons spurt in a 56-second time span opened the game up.
West junior Ruben Howell and Williams connected on 3-point jumpers and when junior forward Tommy Grafe scored inside, West had a 52-42 lead with just over five minutes remaining.
With Williams scoring 11 of his 19 points, Mascoutah would get no closer than eight points the rest of the night.
Next up for West, Mascoutah
The Indians face Du Quoin at 5:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 4, at the Elverado Shootout while the Maroons host O’Fallon at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 7.
This story was originally published January 3, 2020 at 11:54 PM.
