Holiday Tournament Action

Some championship hardware will be handed out in the next two nights as the holiday tournaments come to an exciting conclusion.
At the Normandy Holiday Tournament, No. 1 seed McCluer North will take on No. 2 seed Raytown South in the championship game at 5:45 p.m. Both teams won their semifinal games with buzzer-beaters.
McCluer North outlasted Cardinal Ritter 69-67 when senior Ryun Davis picked up a loose ball and scored on a layup at the buzzer. In the other semifinal game, Raytown South's Earl Peterson drilled a pull-up 3-pointer with one second remaining to give the Cardinals a thrilling 61-60 victory over Chicago Orr.
Cardinal Ritter and Chicago Orr will meet for third place at 4 p.m. Soldan will play Normandy for fifth place at 2:30 p.m. Hazelwood East will play Wellston for the consolation title at 1 p.m.
The best player at the tournament is Chicago Orr's Micheal Henry, an athletic 6'6" shooting guard, who can score, handle, dunk and get his own shot. He is a terrific player.
Raytown South has a 6'6" freshman wing player named Ishmail Wainright, who is one of the top freshmen in the country. Unfortunately for local fans, Wainright was injured in the Cardinals' semifinal victory over Soldan and had to sit out the rest of the tournament.
Another player big swingman on display at Normandy is 6'5" junior Ben McLemore of Wellston. He scored 34 points in a victory over Sumner earlier this week. The multitalented McLemore is enjoying an excellent tournament.

SLUH will play Jennings for the championship of the MICDS Tournament. SLUH knocked off Whitfield 75-65 in one semifinal contest while Jennings took care of Miller Career Academy to punch their ticket to the championship game. Jennings won the tournament last year. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
The Junior Billikens had to withstand a 39-point performance from Whitfield's Julian Johnson to take the victory. The 6'3" 220-pound Johnson got to the basket at will against SLUH with powerful bull-moose drives to the basket. However, the Junior Bills were able to prevail with a balanced attack.
The loss for Whitfield was much more than the game. Alex Rudd, their 6'6" senior standout, left the game in the third quarter with a knee injury when he collided with SLUH's Mike Butler while going for a loose ball. Rudd is one of the top perimeter shooters in the area. He missed the entire 2009 season with a knee injury. Hopefully, his injury will not be serious and he can get back into the lineup.
Whitfield will play Miller for third place at 6 p.m. Trinity and Parkway South will play for fifth place at 4:30 p.m. while host MICDS will take on Ladue at 3 p.m. in the consolation final.
The moment of the tournament came in the quarterfinal game between Clayton and Miller Career Academy when senior guard Sumner Ahearn of Clayton threw in an improbable 3-pointer at the end of regulation to force overtime. It was an great moment and equally emotional moment for the Ahearn family. Sumner's father, John Ahearn, died in September after a long illness. His uncle Danny, was a former star player at Clayton, while his cousin Blake, was a former DeSmet and Missouri State standout who spent some time with the Miami Heat and San Antonio Spurs.
The Ahearn family went wild after Sumner's dramatic shot, including Blake, who ended up on the floor. Big John had to be smiling down on his son on this day.

The top four seeds advanced to the semifinals of tonight's Meramec Holiday Tournament. No. 1 Hazelwood Central will face No. 4 CBC at 7 p.m., followed by No. 2 Webster Groves and No. 3 McCluer at 8:30 p.m.
It should be an exciting night of hoops at Meremac as the winners will advance to Wednesday night's championship game.
CBC got quite a scare on Sunday night when senior guard Cory McArthy went down awkwardly with a knee injury in the Cadets' first-round victory over Eureka. It looked bad at first, but McArthy was able to return to the lineup for CBC's 69-38 victory over Parkway West in the quarterfinals. McArthy had 10 points and three assists in the game.

Congratulations to Breese Central coach Stan Eggelson on reaching the 500-victory plateau for his coaching career. Eggleson reached the magic mark when his Central team won its first two games in the Mater Dei Tournament. Breese Central has one of the top small-school teams in the state of Illinois this year.

On the girls side, nationally-ranked Incarnate Word Academy defeated rival St. Joseph's 57-51 to win the championship of the Visitation Holiday Tournament. Senior forward Jazmin Hitchens scored a game-high 25 points to lead the Red Knights, who are ranked No. 14 in the country. The 5'11" Hitchens was voted the tournament's Most Valuable Player for the second year in succession.
Fort Zumwalt West defeated Hazelwood Central for third place.
I was on hard for Saturday night's semifinal games between Hazelwood Central/St. Joseph's and IWA/Fort Zumwalt West.
I was really impressed with 6'2" sophomore center Taylor Manuel of Hazelwood Central. The young lady has an excellent shooting touch and some nice moves in the low post. She can also pass the ball and find the open teammate. Whoever has worked with this girl was really on their job. It was nice to see Taylor and St. Joe's 6'2" freshman phenom Sidney Stipanovich match up in the low post.
I was also impressed with 5'8" junior guard Kelsey Jones. She scored 24 points against Incarnate Word in the semifinals. She has a lot of offensive skills and a little old-school flavor to her game.

On a final note, I want to extend my best wishes to Chaminade head coach Kelvin Lee, who was hospitalized on Monday night when he complained of chest pains before his team was to play Bayless in the first round of the Chaminade Tournament. Kelvin is resting comfortably at St. John's Mercy Hospital where he is undergoing futher tests to see what happened to him.
Hang in there, Kelvin. We're all thinking of you.