Allen Ties Career-High For Second Night In A Row, Edwardsville Defense Holds Area's Leading Scorer To Season Low As Tigers Defeat St. Louis Metro

Colin Feeney, Contributing Sports Writer

Dec 15, 2022 10:45 AM Dec 15, 2022 11:01 AM

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EDWARDSVILLE - Malik Allen tied his career high of 20 points for the second consecutive night and the Edwardsville defense held the St. Louis area's leading scorer, Amari Foluke, to a season-low 18 points as the Tigers defeated St. Louis Metro 76-34 in a non-conference basketball game played Wednesday night at Lucco-Jackson Gym.

The game was a make-up of Edwardsville's home opener, originally set for Nov. 29 but postponed due to illness that swept through the Panthers. And the Tigers bounced back nicely from a tough loss at Cahokia the night before to take the win.

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"Overall, we had a great game against a team with one of the best players in Missouri," said Edwardsville head coach Dustin Battas. "Johnnie (Robinson) and Malik did a great job of defending him, Malik led us with 20 points and as a team, we had 20 assists, which means our offense was very efficient."

The Tigers won with a big team effort and everyone contributed to the win over Metro. And it was an even greater win, given Edwardsville is being bitten by the injury bug as of late.

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"That was a great team effort," Battas said, "and we got a lot of contributions from different guys. We're dealing with some injuries right now and our guys are showing great resiliency. And we hope that we just keep getting better every day."

The Tigers led all the way, holding leads of 20-6, 40-16, and 66-26 after the first three quarters, outscoring the Panthers in the fourth quarter 13-6. To go along with Allen's 20 points, Montrez West hit for nine points, A.J. Tillman scored eight points, Herbert Martin had seven points, Iose Epenesa, Kris Crosby and Robinson all scored six points each, Braylon Heaven had five points, Kody Moore scored four points and Bryce Pryor hit for three points.

Foluke, who was averaging 35.4 points-per-game going in and had four games of at least 40 points, including a season high of 48 against Bishop DuBourg Catholic on Dec. 7, was held to his season-low 18 points, while Joshua Edwards and Jaden Furman scored five points each, Keteyian Cade had four points and Devin Carter had two points.

The Panthers are now 2-8 on the season, while the Tigers go to 4-5 and host a pair of St. Louis teams, Gateway STEM on Friday night at 6:30 p.m. and Riverview Gardens of north St. Louis County on Dec. 19 at 7:30 p.m., before going into the Mary Institute-Country Day Holiday Tournament, which runs Dec. 23-29.

"We like to play a variety of teams," Battas said, "and it gives us a good brand of basketball to play against." Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.