March 15 and 16 saw the Edwardsville High School boys basketball team at the Civic Center in Peoria. The boys took third place in the tournament, losing their first game to Stevenson High School and winning their second game against Proviso East.

 The weekend started out with the boys going against Stevenson. Despite their efforts, the Tigers were unable to finish the night on a good note, which resulted in a loss.

Going into the second half, the Tigers were down 30-20. EHS came out strong with an uninterrupted 6 point run to close the gap to a 4 point deficit.

 “We knew that we had to pick up our play if we wanted a shot at going to the championship,” senior player Drew Curtis said.

Unfortunately, EHS was unable to maintain the ferocity that they started the second half with for the duration of the game. The Tigers lost to Stevenson with a score of 60-49.

“We knew going into that game that we had to come out strong,” junior player Shawn Roundtree said. “We came out strong, but started to let up towards the end of the game. Stevenson kept playing hard and capitalized on our mistake.”

The boys didn’t linger long on the loss, however. The next night’s game saw the Tigers playing against Proviso East, who had lost their own game to Simeon High School the night before.

The boys started out strong again with a 21-16 lead against Proviso East at the end of the first quarter. Senior player Tre Harris set the mood of the game with 10 points in the first eight minutes.

“We had to end our season with a win,” senior player Garret Covington said. “We were not going to lose our second game.”

True to their word, the Tigers finished the game in the lead with a score of 57-56.

In the last ten seconds of the game, Proviso East had the ball inside the Tiger’s three-point arc. Proviso was able to take one shot within the time limit, but was not able to score. 

EHS’s boys basketball team was able to finish their season with a win and take home the third place state trophy with a record of 31-3-0.

Coach Mike Waldo was very happy with the result. “It’s a great way to end a great season,” Waldo said. “The boys have worked so hard and they deserve the reward they got,” coach Waldo said.