GODFREY – A hard-fought defeat to the now 7-0 St. Mary’s Dragons is all that separates Alton Redbirds boys basketball from a perfect start through six games.

The lesson learned by the Redbirds from that Alton Tip-Off Classic loss, coach Eric Smith said, was “that we’re decent.”

The coach’s take from the Redbirds’ hard-fought 75-71 victory over the East St. Louis Flyers on Friday night at Alton High? “That we’re a heck of a lot tougher than I thought we were,” Smith said.

The Redbirds pushed their record to 5-1, including a 2-0 getaway in the Southwestern Conference, with a stirring second-half rally to beat a Flyers squad ranked No. 5 in the Class 3A state poll. East Side is 4-2 and 2-1 in the SWC.

“Tonight, we showed stretches where we struggled a little bit,” Smith said. “But (the Flyers) will do that to you. They’re really good.”

East Side’s 12-0 run in the second quarter left Alton down 35-20. But the Redbirds, who were drubbed by the Flyers 69-52 and 76-36 in last season’s two SWC dates, produced game-changing surges in each of the final two quarters.

“Shows we’ve got a lot of fight,” Alton senior Kevin Caldwell Jr. said. “Kind of a team-defining moment that we came back and fought and got the win like that.”

All five Alton starters scored in double figures, with juniors Malik Smith and Donovan Clay both at 16 points, junior Ahmad Sanders at 13, senior Darrell Smith at 11 and Caldwell at 10.

“This is the senior group that’s been around awhile, worked their tails off for us,” Eric Smith said Friday of a roster five seniors deep with Jacoby Jones, Jamal Jones and Brandon Droste joining Smith and Caldwell. “We’re not where we’re at if (Darrell Smith) doesn’t play the way he does tonight. That’s a credit to those kids.”

The triumph also moved Eric Smith within one win of becoming the fourth coach in Alton Redbirds history to reach 100 victories. The Redbirds will try to deliver their coach that milestone Friday night when Collinsville visits AHS.

Smith will join Stan McAfoos (209-220 in 17 seasons from 1977-94), Ralph Sterrett (140-95 in nine seasons from 1964-73) and Lee Bennett (100-27 in four seasons from 2003-07). Only Bennett hit triple-digit wins faster than Smith, who is 99-53 in his sixth season at Alton.

Smith win No. 99 came against an East Side program featuring a pair of Division I prospects in 6-foot-7 Terrance Hargrove Jr. and 6-9 Joe Reece, a transfer from Vashon in St. Louis. Hargrove, an uncommitted junior, led all scorers with 22 points. Reece, a senior signed with Old Dominion, scored 17.

“Going to the hole, making some kicks, doing the right thing on offense, being patient,” Darrell Smith said. “That’s what got us the win.”

And the Redbirds’ depth was crucial with Caldwell, Darrell Smith and Clay playing through foul trouble. Alton closed the second quarter with seven unanswered points to draw within 35-27 at the half.

“Halftime, we appreciated our guys that came off the bench and did their job,” Caldwell said. “To cut that lead down with guys in foul trouble, that was really important. … We got some real big minutes from those guys. That’s what we preach a lot, do your job, we’ll win games.”

The East Side lead was 10 points midway through the third quarter when Alton got three 3-pointers – one from Caldwell and two from Clay – in a two-minute stretch to trigger a comeback tying the score at 52 entering the fourth quarter.

“We haven’t shot the ball really, really well so far,” said coach Smith, whose team finished 4 of 10 from 3-point range. “We’ve had some games with a high point total, but we haven’t shot it great. We’ve got four kids who can stand around the arc and shoot it and that will come. When we can do that, we can be scary.”

With East Side misfiring from 3-point territory on four straight possessions, the Redbirds turned a 62-60 deficit into a 69-62 lead on four points from Malik Smith, three from Sanders and two from Caldwell, who had a steal and two assists to open teammates for layups during the 9-0 run.

“I like seeing my teammates score,” Caldwell said. “As a point guard, a leader of the team, that’s my job to make sure my teammates do well.”

The Flyers twice cut Alton’s late lead to three. But Sanders’ 3-pointer and a driving score from Charles Miller grew the margin back to eight (74-66) for AHS. Hargrove’s basket and James Collins’ 3 trimmed the Redbirds’ lead to 74-71 with 41 seconds left.

Alton would make just 1 of 4 free throws in the final 30 seconds, but held on to the approval of most of the big crowd at AHS.

“We’d like to get better. And we’d like to make some free throws,” Caldwell said with a smile. “We can’t be satisfied.”