Quick start lifts Collinsville past Belleville West for Class 4A regional crown
Overshadowed at times by the brilliance of all-state teammate Ray’Sean Taylor, Collinsville senior center Keydrian Jones remained a force in the post Friday in the title game of the Class 4A Belleville East Regional.
The 6-6 Jones scored nine of his 16 points in the opening six minutes to ignite a quick start as Collinsville (30-3) sailed to its first regional championship since 2015 with a 63-44 win over Belleville West.
Playing before a partisan Collinsville crowd, the Kahoks jumped to a quick 17-5 first quarter lead. Jones, showing strength in the low post, scored on four of five possessions in the first six minutes to get the Kahoks out to a quick advantage.
Taylor, who led all scorers with 23 points, added a pair of 3-point baskets in the opening quarter and the Kahoks were never challenged by the reigning two-time Class 4A state champion Maroons. West (16-14) managed just one two-point field goal in the first two quarters and trailed 30-12 at halftime.
“We got off to a quick start and Keydrian was a big part of that. He did a good job in the post and on the boards. Plus I thought our defense was pretty good all night really,” Collinsville coach Darin Lee said. “Offensively we have some guys who can score and tonight we showed that. What did we have, four players in double figures.
“I thought we executed well, especially in the first half.”
The win sends the Kahoks into the Pekin Sectional where they will take on another Southwestern Conference rival in the O’Fallon Panthers. O’Fallon, which split a pair of SWC games against Collinsville this season, defeated Edwardsville 48-42 in the title game of the Edwardsville Regional on Friday.
Collinsville looking forward to facing O’Fallon
The Collinsville-O’Fallon game will be at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Belleville West.
“O’Fallon and us, we played two close games during the regular season. We played well tonight, but we know we have to keep playing better and working hard,” Jones said following the win Friday. “Me? I knew I had to step up and continue to be active and aggressive. I just want to keep doing what I can to help us keep winning.”
Collinsville, which needed a 3-point basket by Cawhan Smith to beat O’Fallon 53-50 early in the campaign, suffered its first loss of the season (55-41) at the O’Fallon Panther Dome on Jan. 31.
“They have a good team. It should be a great game,” Lee said of the third meeting of the season against O’Fallon. “They have good post players and good guards. We have to establish ourselves on offense like we have the last two games. Like I said, it’s going to be a great game with a fun atmosphere.”
Smith and David Granger added 10 points each for Collinsville while Tommie Williams led West with 15 points.
“They (Collinsville) got out to a big led early. We just had no answer for No. 41 (Jones),” West coach Alex Schobert said. “I’m proud of this basketball team. With one player returning, to win 16 games and be competing for a regional title, is pretty good.”
This story was originally published March 7, 2020 at 10:00 AM.
