Lockdown defense lifts Chicago Simeon past Collinsville at Bank of O’Fallon Shootout
With senior all-state guard Ray’Sean Taylor held well below his average for the second time in four games, the Collinsville Kahoks needed someone to step up Saturday at the Bank of O’Fallon Shootout.
Nobody did.
Perennial state power Chicago Simeon started the third quarter on an 8-0 scoring run to take the lead and control of the game as it went on for a 54-45 win in a battle of Class 4A state powers.
Averaging just under 25 points per game, the 6-1 Taylor scored six points in the first quarter. But when the Wolverines went to the box-and-1 defense and face guarding the Kahoks senior, it proved to be the difference of the game.
Taylor managed just six points the rest of the night and with senior guard Jeremiah Williams scoring a game-high 19 points, the Wolverines had the contest in control for the final 10 minutes.
“Defense has been our strength all year. We’ve relied on it and it was the difference again tonight,” Wolverines coach Robert Smith said. “We didn’t want him (Taylor) to touch the ball, but when he did we wanted to make him give it up and not penetrate and kick off to his teammates for easy shots.
“We didn’t want to let him beat us. We wanted to make some one else do it.”
Tied for ninth in the Class 4A poll with O’Fallon, Simeon improved to 19-8 for the season. Collinsville, which suffered its first loss of the season eight days ago on the same Panther Dome court against O’Fallon, fell to 24-2. The Kahoks are ranked third in the Class 4A poll.
“We just didn’t make the shots,” Collinsville coach Darin Lee said. “We had open looks ... good shots ... we just didn’t make them.”
Trailing 24-22 at halftime, Simeon got a pair of quick baskets from Frederick Poole and when all-stater Ahamed Bynum hit a 3-point jumper, Simeon had a 30-24 lead with just three minutes gone in the third quarter.
Collinsville would get no closer than four points the rest of the night.
Other Bank of O’Fallon Shootout results
Chicago Curie 58, Mehlville 54
Competing 280 miles from home and without its head coach, the Chicago Curie Condors simply refused to wilt Saturday in the opening game of day two of the Bank of O’Fallon Shootout.
All-staters Ramean Hinton and Armond Williams scored 12 points apiece as Curie (23-1), ranked No. 1 in the Class 4A state poll, held off Mehlville.
Featuring 7-foot senior Davion Bradford and getting 15 points each from Lamontay Daughety and Dylan Branson, Mehlville (15-4) played the Condors close to the end only to comer up short.
The win capped off a difficult 72 hours for Curie, which earlier this week learned longtime coach Mike Oliver had been removed from his coaching duties because of an allegation he had a physical altercation with a student. Assistant coach Larry Wallace has taken over the program and led the Condors on Saturday.
“It’s been a rough last couple of days for the kids and everyone associated with our program,” Wallace said. “There have been a lot of distractions but the kids are handling everything well. We just want to keep playing hard and winning for him (Oliver).”
O’Fallon 50, Chaminade 49 (OT)
Drew Tebbe and Dawson Algee scored in the overtime period as the Panthers (20-5) defeated St. Louis Chaminade.
Beaten by Southwestern Conference rival Belleville West on a buzzer-beater Friday, O’Fallon was pushed to the extra period when Chaminade’s Tai Case scored four of his game-high 19 points in the final 25 seconds of regulation.
Ranked ninth in the Class 4A state poll, O’Fallon was led by Algee’s 13 points while Tebbe added 11.
Chicago Whitney Young 77, Marion (Arkansas), 74
Ranked sixth in the Class 4A poll, the Dolphins (18-8) got a combined 46 points from all-staters Tyler Beard and DJ Steward as they defeated Marion.
Headed to Duke University, Steward led the Whitney Young attack with 26 points while Beard, a Georgetown recruit, added 20.
The Dolphins jumped out to a 21-4 lead and never trailed. Detrick Reeves led Marion (10-13) with 35 points.
