Butler's Late Three Secures Edwardsville's Win Over Collinsville

COLLINSVILLE – Miccah Butler’s critical three-pointer late, along with a pair of free throws in the final seconds, and a brilliant defensive play by Devyon Hill-Lomax in deflecting away an inbounds pass with 1.8 seconds left, helped give Edwardsville a crucial 43-41 Southwestern Conference boys basketball win over Collinsville Friday night, Dec. 19, 2025, at Vergil Fletcher Gym.

It was a game where the Kahoks had an eight-point lead before the Tigers rallied to take the lead late in the first half, only to see Collinsville convert on two steals to take the lead at halftime, then rally back again to take the vital road win

It was a grind-it-out win, and of course, Tigers head coach Dustin Battas will take them anyway he can get the wins.

“The goal is to find somehow a way to have one more point, right, than the other team has,” Battas said, “and we were able to do that tonight. Scoring was hard, I thought we missed some shots around the rim early, and that’s a credit to them, with their defense, and we had a tough time getting Miccah open some. We’ll keep working on that; there are some things we can do better to remedy teams trying to take him away.

"But I thought we executed late game stuff well, I thought for as much as we struggled in the first quarter on defense, to end the game only giving up 40-something points said a lot about how our defense improved as the game went along. But we've got to get back to work. There are things you want to improve on."

Battas continued: “Conference wins are hard. “Road wins in the Southwestern Conference are hard, and I thought they played really well. They made things hard for us. They’re a well-coached team, with kids that keep getting better, so we are happy we won, and we look forward to going to MICDS."

The defensive play of Hill-Lomax can’t be overlooked, either, as we made a great play to deflect the inbounds pass after Buttler’s second free throw in the final seconds, leaving Collinsville to throw a desperation pass that was knocked down with 0.4 seconds left.

“I recognized Devyon right after the game,” Battas said. “He has a certain skill set, and I thought his two offensive rebounds at the end were obviously a difference maker. But that’s challenging the guys, ‘what can you do well for us consistently?’ And offensive rebounding is a skill, just like dribbling and shooting, and I thought he excelled at that tonight. He got some huge rebounds down the stretch. I think probably his best game on defense as well.”

The Tigers also hit critical free throws at the right moments, as well.

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“Free throw shooting is, obviously, something we work on,” Battas said. “We’ve got confidence in our guys. Sometimes, it's fatigue. Rowan (Weller) logs a lot of minutes, and Miccah logs a lot of minutes. We’re asking those guys to do a lot, so like I said, the key is they made enough. And it’s something we obviously work on, but making those plays down the stretch, where you’re having those free throw opportunities, and not turn the ball over, I thought was the most important thing.”

The Tigers move on now to the Don Mauer Holiday Invitational tournament at Mary Institute-Country Day School in Ladue, Ko, in west St. Louis County, where Edwardsville is the defending champion, It’s a tournament Battas and his team is looking forward to.

“Our guys are excited about MICDS,” Battas said. “It’s fun to play new teams, teams that don’t get to see us much. It’s a good tournament that we’ve had success in. There are good teams over there, so I haven’t got to look much at it yet, but I know we’ve got the fourth seed, and it’s a tournament we hope to repeat as champions.

Brady Niemi knocked down a three to give the Tigers an early 3-2 lead to open the game, and after Edwardsville went up 6-5, the Kahoks went on a 6-0 run, fueled by Jordan Taylor, to take an 11-6 lead. Matthew Wilson then sank a three to cut the lead to 11-9, but Jace Wilkinson got going and hit a pair of baskets to help the Kahoks go out in front 17-12 after the first quarter.

CaMauri Mayes hit early on to extend the lead to 19-12,, with Wilkinson converting a three-point play to put Collinsville up 22-14, The Tigers then went on a 10-0 run to go ahead for the first time in the game, with Wilson and Rowan Weller leading the charge, Weller hitting in the lane to tie the game 22-22, and Hill-Lomax putting Edwardsville up 24-22. Back-to-back steals by Mayes, the second feeding DeAndre Brown for a lay-in at the first half buzzer, gave the Kahoks the lead back at halftime 26-24.

The third quarter began with Kaleb Garcia and Mayes scoring back-to-back to increase the lead to 30-24. Welle and Hill-Lomax brought the Tigers to within 30-28, but Jordan Taylor and Wilkinson helped to reestablish a six-point Kahok lead at 34-28. The Tigers went back to work, got baskets from Weller and free throws from Butler to forge a 34-34 tie at three-quarter time.

A pair of Wilkinson free throws gave Collinsville the lead early in the fourth, 36-34, with the Tigers with a three from Weller giving Edwardsville a 37-36 lead before Butler’s crucial three upped the lead to 40-36 with 3:20 left. A pair of free throws by Wilkinson made it 40-38, while a Weller free throw gave Edwardsville a 41-38 lead. Two more free throws from Wilkinson made it 41-40, and another free throw tied the game at 41-41. Butler hit two of four free throws, the second coming with 1.8 seconds left, to put the Tigers up 43-41, After a series of rim outs, the Kahoks were ready to inbound the ball, but Hill-Lomax deflected the ball out of bounds with 0.4 seconds left. A long pass was knocked away by the Tiger defense, preserving their 43-41 win.

Weller led the Tigers with 12 points, while Niemi had nine points, Butler hit for eight points, Hill-Lomax scored four points, and Jalen Nguyen had three points. Wilkinson led the Kahoks with 12 points, with Mayes scoring 10 points, Taylor had nine points, Brown had eight points, and Garcia scored two points

Edwardsville is now 6-3 and meets Parkway South in the Don Mauer tournament Tuesday at 12 noon, with the tournament going on through Dec. 30. The Tigers then start 2026 with a home game Jan. 6 against O’Fallon at 7:30 p.m., and meet Gateway STEM at Vashon High in north St. Louis City Jan. 13 at 6 p.m.

The Kahoks go to 4-5 on the season, and meet Limestone at SWIC Saturday at 2 p.m.

Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.

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