Basketball Recap: Gillespie Comes Up Short

While it was all tied up 31-31 at halftime, Gillespie was not quite SIUE East St. Louis Charter's equal in the second half on Thursday. They took a 76-66 hit to the loss column at the hands of the SIUE East St. Louis Charter Cougars. Despite running the score up even higher than they did in their prior game last Monday (56), the Miners still had to take the loss.

SIUE East St. Louis Charter got their win on the backs of several key players, but it was Jaylen Wiley out in front who went 9 for 14 on his way to 22 points along with seven rebounds and five steals. The dominant performance also gave Wiley a new career-high in assists (four). Breon Johnson was another key player, dropping a double-double on 18 points and ten boards.

Gillespie dropped their record down to 2-13 with the defeat, which was their fifth straight at home. As for SIUE East St. Louis Charter, the victory snapped their losing streak at five games and leaves them with a 3-9 record.

Gillespie didn't take long to hit the court again: they've already played their next match, a 74-55 loss against Carlinville on the 20th. As for SIUE East St. Louis Charter, they will take on First Baptist Academy in a tournament on January 25th.