Collinsville t-shirts Jack and Luke Geisen wore said it all. They read: Class of ’23.
Tradition is a large part of the Collinsville boys basketball program, which joined an elite club Saturday. The Kahoks’ 56-53 win over Oakville in the Belleville East Winter Classic was the 2000th victory in the storied history of the boys hoops program. Collinsville is only the third program in the nation to reach the milestone. Kingsport (Tenn.) and Centralia (Ill.) were the first two schools to reach the 2,000-win mark.
“Obviously Collinsville basketball has been historically an incredible program,” Collinsville coach Darin Lee said. “We’ve had so many good players. … We’re just a very small part of it.”
While generations of Collinsville fans packed the stands, an upstart Oakville team nearly killed the celebration.
Despite leading from the opening minutes of the game, Collinsville (18-3) never quite pulled away from Oakville. The largest Kahoks’ lead was nine in the second quarter; in the second half, Collinsville never managed to build a lead of more than five.
Image from KahokSports.com
Read more: http://www.stltoday.com/sports/high-school/boys-basketball/with-win-no-collinsville-celebrates-a-purple-letter-day/article_e8333578-44a0-11e1-afb1-0019bb30f31a.html#ixzz1kFIS0XU8