Rowan Weller Comes Through Again, Scores Two Late Baskets, Big Free Throw, Helps Give Tigers 42-38 Win Over Quincy

EDWARDSVILLE - Junior guard Rowan Weller has been Edwardsville's most clutch player the last few weeks, and on Wednesday night, Feb. 25, 2026, he came through again, delivering the two baskets that put the Tigers ahead for good, and later hit a big free throw in the dying seconds, and it was enough to help give Edwardsville a 42-38 win over Quincy in the first semifinal of the iIHSA Class 4A boys basketball regional, held at Lucco-Jackson Gym.

Wth the win, the Tigers move to the championship game Friday night, Feb. 27, 2026, at home against Collinsville, a 42-39 winner over Granite City in the second semifinal.

The Tigers played great defense all throughout, and to hold the Blue Devils to 38 points was not an easy accomplishment.

"I thought we guarded really well," said Edwardsville head coach Dustin Battas. "To hold them to 38 points is a compliment to our defense. We want to shoot it better; I think we didn't shoot it from three like we can tonight, but Rowan attacking the basket is good, a couple of big offensive rebounds, and some baskets by (freshman) Matthew Wilson were big.

"We'll get more guys going, we want to get more guys scoring in our offense, we want to play a little bit more efficiently on offense. But we knew Quincy was going to make it hard, and they did do that. It is a credit to them, and in the postseason, you're just trying to figure out a way to have one more basket than they do at the end of the game, and we did that tonight."

To Quincy's enormous credit, the Blue Devils made life a bit difficult for Edwardsville the entire 32 minutes.

Battas said Quincy's coach Andy Douglas does a "great job."

"Coach Douglas has some young guys, but it's almost March, and those young guys have been playing a long time, just like Matthew has for us. They made some tough shots, and (freshman Brennan Lepper) puts a lot of pressure on you with his size around the rim. As I said, we've got a lot of respect for Quincy. Beating them by two, or beating them by 10, in our minds, we were just happy we were successful."

Weller has been delivering big performances in the clutch, especially in the last few games, including a buzzer-beater that gave the Tigers a narrow win over Belleville East Feb. 17. Battas said it's a prime example of the consistent performances Weller's given all season long.

"Rowan is consistent," Battas said. "He's got a knack for finishing around the rim, and he's really worked hard to improve that. Earlier in the season, he was missing some shots around the rim; he's gotten much stronger, and we've been working on his finishes. And he made a big three there, and he doesn't shoot them much, but he shoots threes every day, but that was a big one, obviously, that he made in fourth quarter for us."

Battas is looking ahead to the final on Friday.

"Obviously, we've already played Collinsville a couple of times," Battas said, "and we've got our work cut out for us with their win over Granite City. "We know it'll be a hard game, we're fortunate to get to have it at home, and we're fortunate we get to have practice tomorrow."

Miccah Butler hit the first shot of the game to put the Tigers up 2-0, but the Blue Devils countered with a three from Lepper to go ahead 3-2. From that point, the lead went back-and-forth, then late in the quarter, with the score tied 6-6, Juelz Clausell knocked down a three to give Quincy the lead 9-6, with Wilson countering to tie the game 9-9, but Clausell sank another three to give the Blue Devils the lead after the first quarter 12-9. Milton Whitfield scored at the start of the second quarter to extend the lead to 14-9, and Quincy managed to maintain a four-point lead through the period, largely through the efforts of Kani Humphrey and Clausell. The Tigers stayed close, however, and came to within 22-18 at halftime.

Edwardsville scored the first five points of the second half, as Weller scored on the first possession, then Wilson hit a three to give the Tigers the lead at 23-22. Quincy came back to forge a 24-24 tie on a basket by Clausell, and the game see-sawed again, with free throws and a basket by Butler, along with a basket by Weller, giving the Tigers a 30-24 lead. The Blue Devils rallied on free throws and a basket by Clausell and a basket by Whitfield to tie the game 30-30, but hit a pair of free throws to give the Tigers a 32-30 lead at three-quarter time.

In the final quarter, Weller hit a critical three to give Edwardsville a 35-30 lead, but back came Quincy, as Lepper scored and Whitfield sank a big three to tie things up again at 35-35. The defenses took over and helped keep the score tied, but Weller drove the lane to put Edwardsville up for good, 37-35, in the final minute, then scored again to up the lead to 39-35 with 52.2 seconds left. A pair of Butler free throws upped the lead to 41-35, but the Blue Devils weren't quite done, as Parker Douglas banked home a three with four seconds left. A Weller free throw iced the game for Edwardsville 42-38.

Weller led the Tigers with 17 points, while Butler hit for 14 points, and Wilson scored 11 points, the only three Tigers to score in the game. The Blue Devils were led by Whitfield, with 10 points, while Nas Kelley had seven points, Clausell scored six points, Lepper hit for five points, Aveion Tate had four points, Douglas scored three points, and Humphrey had two points.

Quincy ends its season at 8-21, while the Tigers go to 22-7, and play the Kahoks Friday night for the regional title at home in a 7 p.m. tip-off.

The winner goes to the Rock Island Sectional, where they will face the winner of the O'Fallon final, either Alton or Belleville East, Tuesday night in a neutral site game in Metro-East at 6 p.m., the winner going to the final Mar. 6 at Rock Island at 7 p.m. The Rock Island winner plays the Joliet West winner in the Illinois State University super-sectional game Mar. 9 at 7 p.m. at CEFCU Arena, with the winner going to the state finals Mar. 13-14 at State Farm Center at the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana.

Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.

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