02/08/2025
BY JACK BULLOCK
WOOD RIVER - Head coach Mark Briggs has taken many of his Roxana teams to Memorial Gym at East Alton-Wood River in his tenure leading the Shells.

Located just a few miles away the two schools are long time rivals.

Saturday the Shells took the floor at the East Alton-Wood River Shootout to take on highly regarded West Central.

Roxana dominated the small school with a terrific shooting exhibition.

When asked after the contest if he ever had one of his squads shoot as well from long distance before in this particular gymnasium, the answer was a quick “NO.”

In the Shells previous two contests, wins over Gillespie and East Alton-Wood River, Coach Briggs didn't allow his teams to shoot any 3-pointers.

He wanted his team to get easier shots at the basket.

On Saturday he lifted the ban.

Roxana roared out to an early first half lead over the defending 1A state champions and never let up until the benches emptied in the fourth quarter.

The Shells canned 10-of-11 3-point shots in the first two quarters and their defense held the Cougars to just 12 first half points in a commanding 48-21 win that wasn't as close as the final score would indicate.

Four different Roxana players hit from long range and six different kids scored as they finished with 12 made 3-pointers in the game.

Sophomore Cohen Dugan led the Shells with 14-points, as the 6-4 forward nailed down three of the 3-pointers in the first quarter.

Six-three junior Sean Maberry scored 11-points, with nine of the points coming on three of the made long range shots, all of which came in the first half.

Junior guard Trenton Hollaway scored 10-points, hitting two of the treys while classmate guard Keelan Crawford hit three of the 3-pointers for nine-points.

Crawford's trifectas came in the second quarter as the Shells cruised to a 34-12 halftime spread.

“We relied on the three so often this year it has burned us. So the last couple of games we told our kids to get to the rim and find different ways to score,” said Coach Briggs. “A lot of the three's we made today were downhill, inside/out. We weren't getting those kind of plays and action most of the season.”

West Central was playing without a pair of players; senior guard Cameron Sievers and sophomore Gabe Howard.

The rest of the Cougars struggled from the outset and were never in the contest after the first few minutes.

No West Central player reached double-digits in points for Coach Ryan Sichting.

Six-foot junior Ryker Ford scored seven-points for the Cougars, who are now 21-6 on the season.

The Shells were ready when the whistle blew for the opening tap.

Maberry got things started with under a minute gone on the clock with a 3-pointer from the top of the circle for a 3-0 lead.

After Ford answered from the left corner to tie the score at 3-3, nothing from that point went right for West Central.

On the Shells' next six scores, four of them were 3-point bombs.

Dugan nailed down three of them, twice from the right corner and once from the top of the arc.

His second of the connections forced a West Central timeout at 11-3 with 3:31 left in the first quarter.

By the time Maberry hit his second 3-pointer, West Central needed another timeout as the Cougars were in trouble at 17-3.

(CONTINUED)

Sophomore Blayne Sidwell hit his only shot of the game for the Cougars, a 3-pointer from up top, to stop the Shells' run temporarily.

But a drive to the basket by Dugan made it 19-6 at the end of the quarter.

Crawford delivered three back-breaking 3-pointers in the second quarter with two of them coming off of drives to the basket and assists from Hollaway.

Hollaway also nailed down a 3-pointer in the second quarter onslaught, getting a kind bounce on the shot for a 28-11 lead.

Maberry put an exclamation point on the first half with a 3-pointer from the right wing with :04 left for a 34-12 lead.

“We have some strong kids and we've made some strides,” said Coach Briggs. “When the ball goes in the basket it makes things look a lot better. It helps get the kids 'fired up' on the defensive end. Our schedule makes us better for these kind of games.”

Hitting 12-of-19 shots overall in the first half, Roxana had delivered the knockout blow.

As if things weren't bad enough to Coach Sichting, the Cougars coughed up five third quarter turnovers and the Shells took advantage.

Senior Jake Newton got in on the fun with an offensive rebound for a score and then he fed Dugan on a fast break lay up for a 38-16 lead.

Dugan finished his scoring and the third quarter with a three from the left corner as the two teams went to the final frame at 43-16 Shells.

A 3-pointer from Hollaway with 6:50 left in the contest triggered the 30-point mercy rule and shortly thereafter the coaches turned to the reserves to swing the mops.

The tale of the tape didn't make things look any better for West Central.

The Cougars ended up just 8-of-34 from the field, 4-of-12 from the arc and committed 13-turnovers.

Roxana was much more dominant, connecting on 17-of-31 from the floor overall (54.8 percent) 12-of-19 from long range.

Roxana improved to 13-14 on the season on a three-game win streak.

The Shells, coming into the contest, had shot a whopping 499 3-pointers for the season but Coach Briggs decided to make a bit of a change the past two games.

“This was a carry over from the last couple of days, just to get the kids some confidence. Look to pitch it out and see the ball go in the hole,” said Coach Briggs. “We only had two starters back from last season and we're a young team. Right now we're trying to get better for the postseason. Build some chemistry. When we put the ball in the hole we can be awfully tough because we have a lot of other pieces.”

Coach Darin Lee's club was led by 6-3 senior Donovan Coates with 22-points and 13-points came from 6-6 senior Stanley Carnahan.

The Kahoks (14-13) got 11-points apiece from junior Jace Wilkinson and senior Evan Wilkinson.

Evan hit three 3-pointers in the second quarter as Collinsville led 29-17 at halftime.

Jace Wilkinson scored eight of his points in the fourth quarter, all from the foul line (8-of-10) as his team held on for the victory.

The Rams (10-8) were paced by junior Jason Stokes with 16-points and sophomore Tyler Ray added 15.

Junior Gabe Weaver tossed in 13-points for MICDS.