ROXANA – The East St. Louis Flyers were looking to take home the Roxana Hoopsgiving Classic championship in their first appearance in the annual tournament.
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The Orphans of Centralia had other ideas.
They beat the Flyers 63-51 to win their fourth straight Hoopsgiving title.
The championship game started off at a blistering pace, with Centralia taking a 19-15 lead after the first quarter. The Orphans’ 6-foot-4 senior forward Dustyn Collins scored 13 of those opening points.
The Flyers made up some ground and briefly took the lead at 24-22 after Alex Johnson’s go-ahead three-pointer. The Orphans came back to lead 26-24 at the halftime break.
Coming out of the locker room and into the third quarter was when East Side made its move. A Centralia three made it 34-30 before a 10-point run from the Flyers.
Johnson knocked down a couple of free throws followed by a basket. Montreal Stacker scored a bucket before Johnson put in one free throw and then a three to give the Flyers a 40-34 lead. The Orphans closed the quarter strong and only trailed 44-42.
In the fourth, the Flyers ran into some foul trouble. Centralia made nine of 12 free throws in the final frame, outscoring East Side 21-7 down the stretch.
The Orphans opened the fourth quarter on a 15-3 run before the Flyers called a timeout with 2:28 remaining in the game. At that point, the score was 58-47, and the Flyers' time was winding down. It was too little, too late as the Flyers fell by a final score of 63-51.
Collins led all scorers with 20 points and was later named the tournament’s MVP. Archie Goewey chipped in 19 points while Jaxon Hancock had 13.
For the Flyers, Johnson led with 16, Stacker added 12, Arlandis Brown had 11, and Lawson Bynum had nine.
East St Louis falls to 3-1 on the season and will play next at home against Normandy on Tuesday, Dec. 3 at 7 p.m.
