Basketball Recap: Alex Johnson's Big Game Can't Quite Lead East St. Louis over Belleville West

East St. Louis fought the good fight in their overtime matchup against Belleville West on Tuesday but wound up with a less-than-desirable result. They took an 81-76 hit to the loss column at the hands of the Belleville West Maroons. Despite running the score up even higher than they did in their prior game last Friday (55), the Flyers still had to take the loss.

East St. Louis lost despite a true team effort on offense. The best among them was Alex Johnson, who dropped a double-double with 25 points and ten rebounds. He is also on a roll when it comes to steals, as he's now grabbed two or more in the last seven games he's played. Montreal Stacker was another key player, almost dropping a double-double with 21 points and nine assists.

Flyers

Assists

02/11/25 @ Belleville West	16
02/07/25 vs Collinsville	11
02/05/25 vs Cardinal Ritter College Prep	4
01/31/25 vs Alton	9
01/30/25 @ McCluer	6
+ 24 more games

Even though they lost, East St. Louis was working as a unit and finished the game with 16 assists. That's the most assists they've posted since back in February of 2024.

East St. Louis' loss dropped their record down to 13-15. As for Belleville West, their win was their third straight at home, which pushed their record up to 13-13.

East St. Louis and Belleville West could both be facing uphill battles in their next games considering their disadvantage in the MaxPreps Illinois Rankings. East St. Louis (ranked 147th) will meet Edwardsville (ranked 12th) at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Similarly, Belleville West will challenge Alton at 7:30 p.m. on Friday down 125 places (151 vs. 26).