Panthers hang on
Paul Kopsky/STLhighschoolsports.com | O'Fallon's Roosevelt Jones (left) tries to hang on to the ball as Alton's Montinez Knight goes for a steal.
O’Fallon 54, Alton 49 • O’Fallon survives an Alton comeback for a road victory in the Southwestern Conference.
O’Fallon boys basketball coach Rick Gibson felt like his team “stole” one Tuesday night against host Alton.
Roosevelt Jones had a game-high 21 points to lead the visiting Panthers to a 54-49 triumph over the Redbirds in a Southwestern Conference contest.
O’Fallon improved to 7-0 overall and 2-0 in the conference. Alton fell to 4-2, 0-2. Mikkel Lumpkins had 14 points and teammate Tony Covington added 11 for the Redbirds, who played without leading scorer Dorian Scruggs (one-game suspension).
“I told the boys if you want to win this conference, you’ve got to win your home games and you’ve got to come on the road and try to steal a few,” Gibson said. “We felt like we came in here and stole one. That’s what you’ve got to do if you’re going to compete because every game’s going to come down to the wire with so many good teams (in the conference).”
O’Fallon was able to win for two reasons — poor shooting by the Redbirds and the Panthers were able to get a double-digit lead in the fourth quarter.
Alton made only 18 of 56 shots from the field (32.1 percent), including just five of 28 (17.8) from the 3-point line. In their last game (a 58-51 loss at East St. Louis last Friday night), the Redbirds made only 19 of 48 from the field (35.5).
“It’s not like we don’t practice,” Alton coach Layne Bennett said. “We need guys in here (the locker room) — the seniors who are shooting the bulk of the shots — to step up. It’s unfortunate because we feel like we played hard enough and executed the game plan defensively to win. We held a really good O’Fallon team to 54 points. It’s a shame. It’s just a shame.”
The seniors who took the majority of the shots Tuesday for the Redbirds were Montinez Knight (zero for six overall and zero for five from behind the 3-point line), LaVaughn McDouglar (two for 15 overall and one for seven from 3) and Tyrome Parker (three for 10 overall and one for five from 3).
The lone bright spot was Covington, a senior who was four of five from the field overall and one for one from the 3-point arc.
“Covington was the one guy offensively, who was incredibly efficient tonight,” Bennett noted. “He played an excellent floor game and gave us some great defense.”
The other factor was the Panthers ability to grab a 10-point lead to start the fourth quarter. They led 39-36 after three quarters and scored seven in a row to begin the final frame for a 46-36 advantage with 6 minutes 4 seconds left.
That’s when Bennett called a timeout and slapped a press on O’Fallon, which watched its lead evaporate quickly as Bradley scored a conventional three-point play and Covington stole a ball and scored on a layup, and he drained his only 3-point attempt after another Alton steal as the Redbirds trimmed the deficit to 46-44 with 4:10 to go.
But the Panthers outscored Alton 8-5 to end the game as Jones scored four of his points in the final four minutes.
“When we had the 10-point lead, they upped the tempo on us and we couldn’t handle the pressure,” Jones said. “Coach said to play up and we started beating the press. We were nervous and that’s why coach called timeout (at the 4:07 mark) and told us to run the play that we were going to run against the press. After that, we were good.”
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