Butler, Tigers Shock Alton in Southwestern Conference Upset

The Tigers have three Southwestern Conference games remaining, two of them at home. Alton has four remaining league games as both teams jockey for position.

Bradley Piros, Reporter

Feb 6, 2026 10:52 PM

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ALTON – One could call it an upset.

The Alton Redbirds came into Friday’s contest having won eight of their last nine and holding out hope for a possible share of the Southwestern Conference title with East St. Louis.

Alton’s star senior Semaj Stampley needed just 11 points to break the program’s all-time scoring record. It was a packed house at Alton High School Friday night on the occasion.

It was supposed to be a party.

But the Edwardsville Tigers had other intentions.

Down by as many as 12 points late in the first quarter, the Tigers rallied back to beat Alton 43-31, handing the Redbirds their second SWC loss.

Stampley will have to wait to break the record, finishing the game with two points and fouling out with five and half minutes left in the game.

“I knew it was going to be a game like this. I knew it would be kind of choppy, I knew it would be a little bit ugly,” Alton head coach Dyland Dudley said postgame.

“When the best player in the league, and a top 20 player in the state of Illinois, is sitting on the bench, it’s hard. It’s really hard.”

Alton started the game on a tear, leading 6-0 and later 16-4, it’s largest lead of the night before Brady Niemi’s three-pointer cut it to 16-7 after the first quarter.

The Tigers then opened the second on an 8-2 run to close the gap to 18-15, but the Redbirds maintained that three-point lead at halftime by a score of 22-19.

The freshman, Matthew Wilson drained a game-tying three for the Tigers to open the second half. Alton stayed ahead 26-24 before a Miccah Butler triple gave his team its first lead at 27-26. The Tigers kept that lead after three quarters 30-29.

Alton’s O’Bryant Brown opened the fourth with a basket, giving his team its final lead of the night at 31-30. Shortly after that, Stampley fouled out with 5:26 left in the game.

From then on, Alton didn’t score. Edwardsville closed the game on an 11-0 run, eight of those points coming from Butler.

“I thought Miccah was excellent down the stretch, Edwardsville head coach Dustin Battas said. “We’re always finding ways for Miccah to get to the basket and make plays, and I thought he did that tonight. He looked calm and confident, and that’s the Miccah we know we can win a lot of games with.”

He finished the game leading all scorers with 15 points.

“We definitely came in here with a chip on our shoulder, coming off our loss earlier this season at home,” Butler said. “They came and smacked us pretty good, so we had to get back for that.”

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Alton handled the Tigers 73-44 back on December 12 in their first meeting. But it was last season’s postseason meeting that’s still fresh in the mind.

The Redbirds won 55-47 on their home court to win their first regional title since 2019.

“It means a lot to not only me, but my teammates, my teammates from last year, and coach Battas,” Butler said. “We haven’t had the greatest time on this court in my three years here. I don’t think I’ve won a game here.”

Edwardsville has won on Alton’s floor in Butler’s tenure, just not against Alton. The Tigers defeated Granite City last season to set up the dream regional final.

But the Tigers hadn’t beat the Redbirds in Alton since December 2, 2022, the seventh game of a nine-game series win streak. Alton has won four of the last six meetings.

“I think I had a little PTSD walking in, just remembering last year’s game and how hard it was, and just that group of guys who didn’t get to win here,” Battas said. “We have a lot of respect for Alton, we think they’re really good, I think coach Dudley does an amazing job.”

The big key to the game was Edwardsville’s defense against Stampley. Typically averaging nearly 19 points per game, the Tigers held him to two points, leaving him still nine points shy of breaking that record.

“We were trying to win the game first and foremost; Semaj will tell you that,” Dudley said. “If we do what we’re supposed to do, and we have a lot of work in front of us, maybe we’ll see them again.”

No opposing coach has more respect for Stampley than Battas.

“Semaj, I’m not sure there’s a player that I’ve grown more fond of on another team,” he said. “I think what he’s done with coach Dudley for the Alton community is amazing. I’m sure he’s appreciated here.”

“Semaj will get the record, I guess tonight I’m happy he didn’t get it, but I want to see him do well, because I think he’s everything that’s right about our league and about high school basketball,” Battas said.

The Tigers outscored Alton 22-9 in the second half to erase a three-point halftime deficit.

“I thought the first quarter went their way and I thought we weren’t rebounding as well and executing a few things on offense, but I think we really settled in and competed better on defense, limited their shots, and just really competed,” Battas said.

“I think if you’re going to beat somebody as good as Alton on their home court, you have to compete first, and I thought we did that.”

Besides Butler, Rowan Weller added 10 points, Niemi had six, and Devyon Hill-Lomax had four. The Tigers improve to 17-7 and 6-3 in the SWC.

Alton was led by Brown with 14 points. Jamarion Green had six, and Tysean Jones had five. The Redbirds are now 16-8 and 6-2 in the conference.

The Redbirds will have a chance to bounce back as Stampley gets another attempt to break the scoring record on Saturday, February 7 when Alton takes on Vashon at 6:30 p.m. in the Bank of O’Fallon Shootout.

The Tigers take the weekend off and prepare for Tuesday’s conference clash against the Collinsville Kahoks.