St. Louis high school basketball will be in the national spotlight this weekend when Chaminade takes on McCluer North on Saturday afternoon in a nationally televised game on ESPNU.
The ESPN Rise High School Showcase game will be held at Lindenwood University in St. Charles at 4 p.m. The game will feature two national Top 20 players from right here in St. Louis in All-American guard Bradley Beal of Chaminade and national scoring phenom B.J. Young of McCluer North.
Both SEC-bound star guards are averaging 30 points a game in leading their teams to glittering records this season. Beal,who has signed with Florida, is averaging 32 points a game to lead the St. Louis area. Young, who is headed to Arkansas, is second at 30 points a game.
Chaminade is currently 21-0 and ranked in the Top 20 nationally while McCluer North entered a busy week of action with a 20-1 record. Before taking on Chaminade, the Stars have games with Suburban North Conference rivals Hazelwood Central, McCluer and Riverview Gardens this week.
Saturday’s game will be a wonderful showcase for St. Louis prep basketball, which collectively stood on its head throughout the summer with great performances from so many players and summer teams.
Led by Beal and former Wellston star Ben McLemore (now at Oak Hill Academy), the St. Louis Eagles 17U club enjoyed a spectacular summer, which included two appearances on ESPNU. Meanwhile, Young led the St. Louis Gameface 17U squad to a Top 5 finish at the Amateur Athletic Union national tournament.
Both teams also have excellent supporting casts to go along with the two stars. Chaminade is a veteran team with nine seniors, including 6’3″guard Tevin Evans, 6’5″ forward Brendan Kelly and 6’2″ senior Luke Bumgarner. Kelly and Young were summer teammates on that Gameface 17U team. McCluer North also has a talented team with another Division I prospect in 6’8″ junior Jordon Granger, who has already received numerous offers. The Stars also feature hard-working 6’2″ senior Toye Okunrinboye, 6’3″ junior Galen Brown, 6’3″ junior Tremayne Garrett, and 5’8″ senior Tephon Lindsey.
Head coaches Kelvin Lee of Chaminade and Randy Reed of McCluer North have led their respective programs to state championships in recent years. Lee led Chaminade to the Class 5 state title in 2009, while Reed guided the Stars to the Class 5 state title in 2007 and runner-up finish in 2008.
To have the mother of all sports networks coming to town to broadcast a game with two St. Louis teams speaks to the excellence of the star players, these two programs and the emergence of the St. Louis area, which has produced area stars in recent years such as Darius Miles, David Lee, Larry Hughes, Chris Carrawell, Loren Woods and Jahidi White, who were all NBA draft choices.
This will be the first time a high school game in St. Louis will be televised nationally. Back in 1991, Kirkwood played Parkway West in a classic game that was televised on the Sports Time Cable Network. A football game between Parkway North and Parkway West was televised on the ESPN network four years ago during the senior year of West standout quarterback Blaine Gabbert.
The game is already a sellout, which should also bring great publicity to Lindnewood University, which is enjoying a great season of its own.
