Edwardsville and Epenesa post solid road win over Belleville East
Belleville East tried several different things to slow down Edwardsville big man A.J. Epenesa on Tuesday.
None of them worked.
One of the nation’s top junior football recruits who picked up a scholarship offer from Alabama this week, Epenesa exploded for 25 points and 16 rebounds in a 63-51 Southwestern Conference basketball win over the Lancers.
“It’s really tough because he is a presence,” Belleville East coach Abel Schrader said of Epenesa, who hit 10 of 12 shots and displayed a soft touch around the basket. “You really can’t front him and if you play behind him he’s pretty tough.
“He’s a great athlete. You’re not an Alabama football recruit probably without being a good athlete. He’s very agile, has got good hands, good touch.”
Key sequence
Edwardsville (4-2 overall, 2-0 in the SWC; ranked second in the BND Large-School Poll) led 28-24 at halftime, then blew things open with a 13-4 run to start the second half. Fourth-ranked Belleville East (4-2, 0-1) fought back from a 16-point deficit and cut the lead to seven at 51-44, but Epenesa and his teammates went to work again and pulled away.
It’s really tough because he is a presence.You really can’t front him and if you play behind him he’s pretty tough. He’s a great athlete.
Belleville East coach Abel Schrader on Edwardsville’s A.J. Epenesa
Edwardsville coach Mike Waldo isn’t known for superlatives, but an effort by Epenesa at the end of the game left a definite impression.
“I thought A.J. did a lot of things good tonight and the last play of the game was one of the most hustling plays I think I’ve ever seen here,” Waldo said. “He contested a shot, flew out of bounds in the bleachers, then came back and contested it (again) with his left hand.
“Whatever sport A.J. plays he works hard to get better. He’s improving all the time.”
Epenesa has 23 major-college football offers and met with new Missouri coach Barry Odom this week. An Iowa coach was at the Belleville East game Tuesday and Illinois and Notre Dame have also been in touch recently.
Key performers
Oliver Stephen added 13 points for Edwardsville and Caleb Strohmeier had 12. Chrys Colley’s defense on East leading scorer Javon Pickett was also huge as Pickett, who was averaging 22.2 points before Tuesday, finished with 10 and never got into an offensive rhythm.
“I thought Chrys did a good job of limiting his touches and we got good help when he got away from Chrys,” Waldo said. “Our guys did a good job of giving help, too. (Belleville East) put (Pickett) in good positions to score and he’s hard to defend.”
Rico Sylvester led Belleville East with 12 points. Isaiah King and Drew Millas each had 11 as the Tigers threw a lot of their defensive attention at Pickett and Sylvester.
Layup drill
During the run early in the third quarter, the Tigers spread things out and kept finding open layups while hitting eight of their nine shots in the quarter. Epenesa twice fed teammates for wide-open shots underneath.
The last play of the game was one of the most hustling plays I think I’ve ever seen here. He contested a shot, flew out of bounds in the bleachers, then came back and contested it (again) with his left hand.
Edwardsville coach Mike Waldo talking about A.J. Epenesa
“I feel like we had a lot of mismatches with size, but they had some good athletes so we just tried to guard them and keep them off the boards,” said Epenesa, who had 14 of his team’s 28 points in the first half. “They started trying to add some pressure (in the second half) and whenever they’d come up the floor real hard we could pass the ball to open spots and eventually get an open layup.”
Schrader found positives in the loss as well.
“The third quarter did not go our way, didn’t score much, gave up some easy points,” he said. “But I was proud of the fact that we kept fighting and were able to cut it to seven points. At the end we gave up just way too many layups trying to pressure fullcourt.”
Schrader talked about the difficulties Edwardsville presents for a defense.
Along with athletic big man Epenesa, Edwardsville junior guard Mark Smith is a solid ballhandler and scorer. Oliver Stephen is a dangerous 3-point threat and had a team-high 18-point average before Tuesday.
“You’ve got a 6-foot-5 guy (Epenesa) who can jump and is very athletic and has good touch, then they have three shooters who are very good outside,” Schrader said. “That’s a very hard matchup for most teams. If you go zone, their shooters get open. You play them man and Epenesa touches it in the post.”
Millas hit two early 3-pointers for the Lancers, but East struggled to find its range while hitting 9-of-23 of its shots in the first half.
Norm Sanders: 618-239-2454, @NormSanders
This story was originally published December 8, 2015 at 10:33 PM with the headline "Edwardsville and Epenesa post solid road win over Belleville East."