Carter Wasson stepped up in a big way on Friday night, leading his team to a come-from-behind victory.

The 6-1 senior, known around southern Illinois as a top-shelf defender, showed once again he can get his team points when needed.

Wasson finished with 24 points, 10 of which came in the fourth quarter, to lead all scorers in the clubs' 48-41 victory over Marissa/Coulterville at home that clinched the program's third consecutive Cahokia Conference Kaskaskia Division championship out right and fourth in a row (shared with Marissa/Coulterville in 2019-20).

A victory next week at home over Dupo will give the Warriors three straight unbeaten division seasons.

Head coach Aaron Fiene's club is now 9-0 in the division, 16-13 overall against a strong non-conference schedule.

“Well that's who he is. He (Wasson) shows up every night for us. He is just that much to us, he is that good,” said Coach Fiene. “There isn't a guy in our area that I would take before him. He is a senior leader and he stepped up and wanted the ball and we gave it to him and told him it's your game.”

Although no other Steeleville player hit double-digits, there was help from the balanced scoring.

Junior Noah Fiene nailed down a pair of first half 3-pointers for six points for the Warriors while three others; 6-2 senior Jack Knop, 6-2 sophomore Canon Ruby and 6-2 senior Evan Buch each scored five important points in the win.

Evan Reitz, a 5-8 senior, added an important 3-pointer in the fourth quarter as the Warriors rallied from a seven-point third quarter deficit to pick up the home win.

Head coach Scott Wine saw his Meteors fall to 15-7 overall, 6-3 in the division with the loss on Friday night.

M/C was led in scoring by 6-1 senior Landon Schmersahl with 15 points, including three 3-pointers during second and third quarter scoring runs by his team.

Six-five senior forward Garett Harrell added 10 points for M/C while sophomore guard Brock Portz added eight.

Senior Chase Hurst (six) and freshman Chrisean Charleston (two) rounded out the Meteors' scoring.

“That is just who we are. We're not great shooters. Tonight is our season in a nutshell. We stopped scoring and we don't defend well. We had a hard time with Wasson tonight. We struggle to beat teams when the score gets up near 50,” said Coach Wine.

Steeleville jumped out on top with a 7-0 run early a pair of free throws by Ruby, a nice driving finish by Knop and a 3-pointer from Fiene.

Wasson added a pair of buckets from Wasson, one on a nice lob pass and the other on a drive to the goal for an 11-3 lead with 2:22 left.

A 3-pointer by Hurst to close the quarter at 11-6.

The Meteors got their first lead thanks to a 10-0 run in the second quarter.

Consecutive baskets by Portz, Harrell twice in the lane including a three-point play, and a 3-point bomb from the left wing Schmersahl suddenly put Marissa/Coulterville up 20-17 with just 1:17 left until intermission.

Wasson answered with a score inside the lane and Buch scored after a Meteor turnover with just :01.4 left.

His shot on the baseline beat the buzzer for a 24-22 halftime lead for Steeleville.

Coach Wine's club hit 7-of-10 field goal attempts in the quarter as they got back into the game at the break.

Marissa/Coulterville appeared ready to snap the Warriors' long division winning streak in the third quarter as the made another scoring run.

They opened the second half with an 11-2 run.

Schmersahl nailed a pair of 3-pointers to both open and end the scoring spree and also converted a drive in the paint as did Hurst.

The second Schmersahl trifecta made it 33-26 Meteors at the 3:39 mark.

The good news for the Warriors was that Wasson was just getting ready to make his team a winner on Friday night.

The senior leader nailed down a pair of shots to close the frame.

He made a drive down the lane and added a 3-pointer from the left wing in front of his own bench to cut the deficit to 33-31 heading to the final eight minutes.

After another Harrell score in the lane, Wasson scored consecutive baskets while being fouled.

Although he missed both free throws, the game was even at 35-35 with 6:19 left.

“With Jacoby out it is part of the game (injuries) and I knew that I had to step up,” said Wasson. “When we were down and needed a bucket I wanted it. They (Marissa/Coulterville) really couldn't guard me and they were just grabbing me. I was hot tonight and we wanted it tonight and we wanted to win the conference.”

Knop and Reitz each scored on 3-pointers for the Warriors while the Meteors countered with two baskets by Portz and two free throws by Schmersahl.

The second Portz score with 4:10 left tied the game at 41-all.

Wasson then came up with big plays on both ends of the floor.

He drove the baseline for a lay up and then took a nice pass from Reitz for another basket.

Two free throws from the senior extended the advantage to 47-41 with 1:02 left.

Wasson picked up a key blocked shot, which Fiene saved from going out of bounds.

“Don't underestimate how good he is defensively, either,” said Coach Fiene about Wasson. “He is our go-to guy. He is so good with the other kids. He's a great athlete but he is also a smart and a good kid. He leads these guys”

Buch added a single free throw with :20.0 remaining to close out the scoring.

“We got Buch back tonight (injury) and I played him a little more than I wanted to. He kept telling me he felt good. We struggled without him,” said Coach Fiene. “He is a difference maker for us.”

When the Meteors needed points in the fourth quarter, they couldn't get the shots to fall after a good start to the period.

They hit just 3-of-11 from the field, missing all four of their 3-point attempts.

“I thought we took a few bad shots and when we started having some adversity,” said Coach Wine. “The bottom line is that we struggled to score the ball and our help defense wasn't very good tonight, our weak side help on Wasson wasn't good. I think we got a little tired at the end tonight.”

In a pretty evenly played game, the Warriors were just a tad bit better in all categories.

Steeleville ended up 18-of-39 overall, 7-of-20 from long range.

M/C closed out with a 16-of-39 effort, 5-of-16 outside of the arc.

The hosts were a bit better on the glass, 24-20 and both teams took care of the ball with Steeleville (six) and Marissa/Coulterville (five) ending up with just 11 total turnovers.

Steeleville, the number two-seed in the upcoming sub-sectional, ends their regular season with the Dupo game on Tuesday and then they will begin play in the Webber Township 1A Regional in the at home against number 14 seed Thompsonville on Saturday.

The Meteors have two regular season games left at home next week with New Athens and Waltonville before hosting Zeigler-Royalton on Saturday as the number four seed at the New Athens Regional.

“Our team can score in bunches because we can guard well,” said Coach Fiene. “We feel like we are always in the game. We've been down early in the last few games but we have the firepower to get back into games.”