Alton rallies past East St. Louis for close win in SWC opener

Hesitant to change defenses against a torrid shooting East St. Louis senior guard Kenny Roberson, Alton coach Eric Smith is glad he did after the Redbirds’ second-half rally on Friday ruined the home coaching debut of Phillip Gilbert.

Kevin Caldwell and Maurice Edwards combied for 15 third-quarter points to pace a furious Alton comeback and Marcus Latham and Trey Smith took over in the final period as the Redbirds went on for a 65-62 win in the Southwestern Conference opener for both teams.

With the 6-foot-2 Roberson connecting on five 3-point shots — all in the second quarter — the Flyers took a 32-22 lead at halftime. That lead grew to 39-26 with just under four minutes left when junior Jermaine Grissom scored on an offensive rebound.

But with the Redbirds switching to a box-and-1 defense and denying Roberson the basketball, the Flyers offense went silent and the Redbirds rallied.

“You know how I am. I’m reluctant to switch things around but my assistants thought we should switch defenses and so we did,” Smith said. “A lot of people make a big deal about the rivalry between ourselves and East St. Louis. But they are a very good program. If I’m not wrong I believe that they went undefeated at all levels last year.

“To come in here and get a win is big for these kids.”

KEY SEQUENCE

Trailing by 13 points midway in the third quarter, Alton rallied behind Caldwell and Edwards. Caldwell scored eight points — including two 3-point baskets — while Edwards added seven. When the 6-3 Edwards nailed a 3-point jumper with one second left in the period, Alton had rallied all the way back with score tied at 43.

With the score tied at 45, Smith scored on a 3-point play and Edwards scored inside to give Alton (2-2) its biggest lead of the game at 50-45.

Flyers senior Patrick Baxter cut the lead to 50-47, but the Redbirds responded by scoring the next seven points — including Latham’s fourth 3-point basket — sending the lead to 57-47.

That 31-8 stretch, done in a little over 10 minutes — put the Flyers away for good. East St. Louis would get no closer than four points the rest of the night.

“When we’re patient, look for the open man and share the basketball, that’s the way we can play. We did that in the second half. We didn’t do a very good job of that in the first,” Smith said. “I thought we did a much better job of penetrating and pitching the ball out to the perimeter in the second half.”

KEY PLAYERS

Calwell led Alton with 17 points while Edwards added 16 and Latham chipped in with 14.

Roberson led the Flyers with 21 points but managed only two in the second half against the Redbirds’ box-and-1 defense. Roberson only had two shots during the first 11 minutes of the second half. Meanwhile the rest of the Flyers failed to pick up the slack.

“I thought we played pretty well in the first half,” Gilbert said. “I think the fact that they went to the box-and-1 threw us off. We didn’t react very well and I think part of that was because it was new to us.”

This story was originally published December 5, 2015 at 12:05 AM with the headline "Alton rallies past East St. Louis for close win in SWC opener."