Tournament Recaps

I ventured over to the last night to take in the championship game of the Pattonville Tournament.
Chaminade won Missouri Class 5 state championship in 2009, but they did not win the Pattonville Tournament. That honor went to the McCluer Comets, who defeated Chaminade in the semifinals on their way to the tourney title.
The Red Devils took care of this unfinished business by defeating McCluer 69-53 to win the Pattonville title. Junior All-American guard Bradley Beal scored a game-high 25 points. He did a little of everything as he played point guard for much of the game and also blocked five shots.
The 6'4" Beal blocked three shots in the first half when he chased down three McCluer would-be layups in transition and blocked them, LeBron James style. Three other players scored in double figures for Chamiande, including 6'5" junior Brendan Kelly's 14 points and 14 rebounds.
A pleasant surprise for the Red Devils was the play of junior xx Evans, who came off the bench to score 14 points.
Chaminade utilized an effective match-up zone defense which cut off the Comets' penetration and held standout guard Shaquille Boga to two points and no field goals in the first half. Boga finished the game with 17 points, while sophomore Demetrious Floyd added 10 points.
One player who I was impressed with in his limited time was freshman Shaquille Edwards of McCluer. Edwards is already 6'3", but he is destined to be big because he comes from a big family. He already has a strong set of hands, a physical body and a nice shooting touch from the high post. He did some nice things for a young big kid in the heat of battle against the state champions. Stay tuned.
CBC defeated Layette 51-49 to win third place in a real thriller. Senior center Ryan Pierson tipped in a missed shot with one second left to give the Cadets the victory. Big Ryan finished with a team-high 20 points. Mike Messer led the Lancers with 24 points.
The 6'5" Messer had an impressive tournament for Lafayette, which starts three sophomores around him. Despite the graduation of top scorers Tyler Griffey and Will Kirksey, don't sleep on the Lancers just yet. If the sophomores come around and Messer continues his fine all-around play, Lafayette can still be very good.
Jennings defeated Hazelwood West 54-45 forthe consolation title while Pattonville defeated St. Charles 54-34 for seventh place for Kelly Thames' first victory as the head coach at Pattonville.

Hazelwood Central won the Vianney Tournament for the sixth consecutive year with a 66-59 victory over the host Golden Griffins. Junior sharpshooter Jordan Wilson scored a game-high 27 points to lead the Hawks. The 6'2" Wilson scored the Hawks' first seventeen points of the game, including five 3-pointers to get the Hawks going.
Curtis Churchman, a 5'7" junior point guard and the brother of former Vashon High standout Dwayne Polk, added 17 points.
In the third-place game, Clayton defeated Eureka 77-65 as 6'5" junior forward Christian Thomas scored a career-high 41 points. With a strong summer showing and as excellent start to the season, Thomas has really put himself on the radar with several schools around the country. As he continues to improve his perimeter game, he will become even more attractive to some Division I schools.

SLUH used its superior size to defeat St. Mary's 52-36 to win the Southside Classic title at Bishop DuBourg. Micheal Butler, an athletic 6'6" senior forward, had 14 points and five rebounds for the Junior Billikens. Mike Mayberger, a 6'5" senior small forward, added 10 points.

Trinity High won the Valley Park Tournament with a 60-52 victory over Principia. Senior guard Marquise Hill scored 21 points while 6'5" junior David Minor added 16 points. The Titans are off to a 3-0 start after last year's breakthrough season when they won 18 games.

Whitfield came out on top of their own round robin tournament with victories over Cardinal Ritter and Sumner. Whitfield, DeSmet and Ritter all finished with 2-1 records, but Whitfield took home the trophy on points.
The one mild surprise of the tournament came last night when DeSmet defeated Whitfield 66-59. Now, it may seem strange to think of DeSmet beating Whitfield an upset, but that's how much things have changed in high school basketball. Whitfield came out smoking with three big victories and some high-scoring games, but the Spartans came up with a spirited effort to momentarily halt Whitfield's early start.

On the girls front, Fort Zumwalt West defeated Nerinx Hall 45-44 to win the Randi Perkins Invitational title at Marquette. Both teams were outstanding last year as Nerinx Hall finished fourth in the Class 5 state tournament while Fort Zumwalt West advanced to the state quarterfinals. Junior forward Jasmine Swopshire led the Jaguars with 14 points.
Nerinx Hall will host its won tournament, beginning on Monday.

Cardinal Ritter defeated Westminster Christian 32-27 to win the Orchard Farm Tournament in a low-scoring affair. Senior Hazaria Washington scored 12 points to lead the Lions while Kiera Baker added 10 points. The Lions are coming off the Class 3 state championship season.