Alton moves on with win over Belleville East in regional final

The Alton Redbirds are moving on in the 2026 IHSA basketball postseason thanks to a big end-to-end performance from Ryan Howard.

Howard, a rangy and athletic 6-foot-5 junior swingman, started strong and finished strong with a game-high 30 points, helping Alton outlast Belleville East 59-48 and capture the Class 4A regional championship Friday night at O’Fallon High School.

Alton (21-11) will face Edwardsville in a Class 4A sectional semifinal at Rock Island High School Tuesday at 7 p.m.

Beating a scrappy Belleville East squad for the second time this season and claiming a regional title left Howard feeling excited and satisfied.

“We knew it wasn’t going to be easy and they definitely tried their hardest for sure. We played as a team and played together,” Howard said.

Alton jumped out to a 10-4 lead midway through the first quarter behind 3-pointers from Howard and Tysean Jones. Howard keyed the early Redbirds run with seven points.

“Today, my teammates found me early. I got going and got my teammates open and they kept finding me open,” Howard said.

Belleville East (10-20) closed the quarter on a 6-2 run capped by a Kenny Wilson bucket to be down just 12-10.

East grabbed a 28-26 lead on a pair of Jalem Coleman free throws with 1:12 left in the first half, but Jones scored on a baseline drive to force a 28-28 tie at the intermission.

In the third quarter, the teams continued to lock down on defense and trade shots as they went into the final stanza tied 41-41.

East pulled within 43-42 on a Coleman free throw with 5:04 left.

That’s when Alton’s poise and mental toughness kicked into gear. Jones and Howard kick-started a 16-6 run over the final five minutes, with five and six points, respectively, to end Belleville East’s late comeback bid.

Alton coach Dylan Dudley praised his team’s late-game poise.

“Give them (East) credit, they made it really hard on us but our kids are tough. Our kids have been raised by parent that hold them accountable and that love them,” Dudley said. “They took a punch and what an effort.”

Jones also had a productive night for Alton with 16 points.

Despite the season-ending loss, East coach David Franklin had no qualms about his team’s finish in the regional tournament.

“We were tied going into the fourth quarter and couple of plays hurt us. We just came up short,” Franklin said. “We had a chance and it didn’t go our way.”

Although the Lancers won just 10 games this winter, Franklin believes with a couple of different outcomes in a few games that things could have been different this season.

“We had a 9-19 regular season and we could have easily been 19-9,” Franklin said. “We had lot of games where we were close and lost by one or two points but I’m still proud of these guys. They never gave up[ when they could have.”

Coleman paced Belleville East with 13 points and Savon Wade added 12.

This story was originally published February 27, 2026 at 10:40 PM.