O’Fallon game plan works to perfection in upset win over Collinsville
O’Fallon coach Brian Muniz’s gameplan worked to perfection Friday in the Panthers Southwestern Conference showdown with state-ranked Collinsville
Junior Mason Blakemore and sophomore Caleb Burton combined for 29 points and helped contain Kahoks all-state senior Ray’Sean Taylor, as O’Fallon ended the Kahoks season-long winning streak with a 55-41 win at the Panther Dome.
Taylor, who had scored 97 points in the Kahoks last two wins, made just 6-of-20 shots and finished with only 14 points, 10 below his season average.
“We didn’t want to run one man at him, we wanted to run two and three men at him (Taylor) every time he took the ball to the basket,” Muniz said. “We didn’t want to let him beat us. If any one of their other players got hot we wanted to stop them as well.
“It was great team effort.’’’
On this night nobody did step up for the Kahoks as O’Fallon (18-4, 6-1), getting double figure scoring from three players, were too much for Collinsville (22-1, 6-1) to handle.
Beaten on a 3-point buzzer beater by Kahoks senior Cawhan Smith in their first meeting in early December, O’Fallon used a pair of baskets by junior Drew Tebbe late in the second quarter to take a 20-16 lead at halftime.
Blakemore a transfer from Centralia and one of the top running backs in the St. Louis area during the ‘19 football season, then scored six of his 16 points and helped shut down Taylor in the third quarter as the lead grew to 35-24.
“We wanted to be physical with him (Taylor) and keep coming at him on the defensive end with a fresh player. We didn’t want him to get in a groove,” Blakemore said. “Caleb (Burton), (Amarey) Wiills and myself, we just really worked hard on the defensive end.
“This is a big win for us. We knew Collinsville was a good team, but we wanted to show that we’re a good team as well.”
An SIU-Edwardsville recruit, the 6-1 Taylor entered the Panther Dome Friday ranked fifth in the St. Louis area, averaging 24.6 ppg. But the Kahoks senior had been unstoppable in Collinsville’s last two outings.
After breaking the SWC and Kahoks school record with 53 points in the Kahoks 77-57 win over St. Louis Trinity Catholic in the title game of the Belleville East Chick-Fil-A Classic on Jan. 25, Taylor came back with a 44-point effort in a 70-53 win over Triad on Tuesday, Jan. 28.
But for the first time all year, the shots didn’t fall for No. 13 or the Kahoks.
“They (O’Fallon) didn’t really do anything different on the defensive end than they did the first time we played. They are a good team and they did a good job against us tonight,” Collinsville coach Darin Lee said. “We had good shots and shots we’ve been making all year. Tonight they just didn’t fall.”
Collinsville makes a final push, but O’Fallon stands strong
Trailing by 11 points early in the fourth quarter, Collinsville rallied. Taylor hit his only 3-point basket of the night and scored on a layup, and when Smith nailed a 3-point jumper with 3:47 left, the Kahoks were within 43-39.
But Blakemore score twice and Tebbe made two free throws as the Panthers expanded their lead back to 10 points.
“It’s a big win because now we control our own destiny as far as the Southwestern Conference goes,’’ Muniz said. “But I just told the kids that we don’t want this to be the highlight of our season.
“There is still a long way to go and we’ve got to continue to work to get better. You know Collinsville will.’’
