The SIUE East St. Louis Charter Cougars will be taking part in a tournament against the Southwestern Piasa Birds at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday. Keep an eye on the score for this one: both posted some lofty point totals in their previous games.
Last Thursday, SIUE East St. Louis Charter came up short against North County Christian and fell 68-58. While losing is never fun, the Cougars can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' basketball rankings in their respective home states (they are ranked 664th in Illinois, while North County Christian are ranked 210th in Missouri).
| 12/19/24 vs North County Christian | 4 |
| 12/18/24 @ McKinley Classical Leadership Academy | 3 |
| 12/13/24 @ Soldan International Studies | 5 |
| 12/10/24 @ Carlinville | 2 |
| 12/04/24 @ East Alton-Wood River | 2 |
SIUE East St. Louis Charter might have lost, but man, Breon Johnson was a machine: he dropped a double-double on 22 points and ten boards. Johnson is also crushing it when it comes to steals: he's grabbed at least two every time he's taken the court this season. Another player making a difference was Kejuan Rives, who dropped a double-double on 18 points and 12 rebounds.
Even though they lost, SIUE East St. Louis Charter smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 23 offensive boards. The team's really been improving in that area: they've now improved their offensive rebound total in three consecutive games.
Meanwhile, Southwestern fought the good fight in their overtime contest against Valmeyer on Friday but wound up with a less-than-desirable result. They fell just short of the Pirates by a score of 66-63. One positive for the Piasa Birds, at least, is that this was the most points they've scored all season.
SIUE East St. Louis Charter will need focus on slowing down Ryan Lowis, one of several Southwestern players who made an impact when they last played. He shot 4-for-7 from long range and dropped a double-double on 24 points and 15 rebounds. Lowis continues to improve, besting his previous point total in each of the last three games he's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Cason Robinson, who posted 14 points and four steals.
SIUE East St. Louis Charter's loss ended a six-game streak of wins at home dating back to last season and dropped them to 2-5. As for Southwestern, with the defeat, they broke their four-game winning streak and moved their record to 8-8.
Rebounding is likely to be a big factor in this contest: SIUE East St. Louis Charter has been smashing the glass this season, having averaged 33.3 rebounds per game. However, it's not like Southwestern struggles in that department as they've been averaging 22.3 boards. With both teams battling to corral missed shots, we'll see if one team can grab an edge.
SIUE East St. Louis Charter suffered a grim 76-50 defeat to Southwestern in their previous meeting back in December of 2023. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Southwestern's Ian Brantley, who dropped a double-double on 37 points and 13 boards. Now that SIUE East St. Louis Charter knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
