Flyers’ comeback victory over Collinsville sparked by dominant rebounding

Collinsville had the East St. Louis Flyers on the ropes Tuesday but was unable to deliver the knockout punch.

The Flyers capitalized on a glaring 44-18 advantage on the boards, earning second and third chances on the offensive end en route to a 60-55 victory over the Kahoks.

It was the first Southwestern Conference victory for first-year East St. Louis coach Phillip Gilbert, who replaced Tony Young in the offseason.

“Excellent. I’m speechless,” said Gilbert, an East St. Louis graduate. “We’ve just got to keep building and get better and better and play our brand of ball.”

The Flyers’ brand of ball is crashing the glass, and they exploited Collinsville’s weakness in that department. East Side had 26 offensive rebounds; the Kahoks had 14 defensive rebounds.

Patrick Baxter, a 6-foot-4 senior, did much of the damage. Baxter had three putbacks and if he didn’t convert, he was fouled and got to the line. He finished with a team-high 18 points and made all four of his free throws.

Karon Randolph, a 6-5 senior, had 15 points and put East St. Louis (2-4 overall, 1-1 SWC) ahead for good at 57-55 with a rebound basket with 1:11 to play.

“Pat is one of our captains,” Gilbert said. “He’s an emotional player because he wants it so far. He told me at halftime, ‘Coach, whatever it takes for us to win, I’m going to do.’ I said, ‘Pat, be an animal. Get every rebound.’ He held that to his heart. That’s the type of person he is and the type of man he’s going to become. He works his butt off, and that’s all we can ask for.”

Singing the blues

Collinsville coach Darin Lee knew before the season opened that rebounding was going to be his team’s sore spot.

“That is a weakness for us and we know it. We talked about it coming in,” Lee said. “That’s all we tried to practice. We’re not very good at checking and we’re not very good at defensive rebounding right now – and they’re good at it.

“We played hard. We’ve just got to become a better rebounding team on the defensive end. There’s no question, we’re going to have to do that. And that’s with all five guys helping.”

Still, the Kahoks were in position to win after they outscored the Flyers 16-3 in the third quarter to turn what had been a 34-22 deficit late in the first half into a 43-37 lead.

Collinsville still led 46-40 and 47-43 early in the fourth quarter, and a steal and runout layup by junior Ronnie Midgett (19 points) tied the game at 55 with 1:37 to play.

But Randolph hit an 18-footer from the right wing, senior Kenny Roberson (14 points) had a layup and Randolph added a free throw after another Flyers offensive rebound, and that was it for Collinsville (2-3, 0-2). The Kahoks also hurt themselves with 14 turnovers.

Senior Tommy Maden (11 points) and junior Sam Webb (10) joined Midgett in double figures for the Kahoks. Junior LaRon Johnson had nine points, all in the second half, including a pair of three-point plays in Collinsville’s dominant third quarter.

Up next

Collinsville will play host to O’Fallon at 7:30 p.m. Friday. The Flyers will play host to Belleville East, also at 7:30 p.m., in what could be an entertaining matchup.

Gilbert was encouraged about what the Flyers can become after the win over Collinsville. Not only did East Side dominate on the glass, it also made seven 3-pointers.

“The guys stuck together tonight. We had resiliency on the road,” Gilbert said. “We preach it and I teach it every day in practice. Adversity is going to come at you. If you stick with it, stay together and play your game, an outcome like this can happen.

“We played on the road against a great team, a great, fundamentally sound team with a great coach. We stuck with what we do. They threw punches at us, but we stuck with it and played our brand of basketball. We executed when it mattered and got the ‘W.’”

This story was originally published December 8, 2015 at 10:26 PM with the headline "Flyers’ comeback victory over Collinsville sparked by dominant rebounding."