With the post season right around the corner, the Chaminade Red Devils are starting to hit their stride during the closing weeks of the regular season in high school basketball.
The Red Devils have won five of their last seven games with those victories coming against some high quality opponents. Those victories have come against Illinois opponents East St. Louis and Burbank St. Laurence along with Metro Catholic Conference rivals CBC and Vianney.
Of the five wins, the biggest came on January 30 when the Red Devils went into the house of Missouri superpower Vashon and posted a 61-57 victory. Chaminade rallied from a double-digit deficit to come away with its biggest victory of the season.
Chaminade is a talented, but still young team with juniors and sophomores all through the lineup. The guard corps is paced by junior Colin Perry, who averages 11 points a game and sophomore Jonny Jordan, who averages eight points a game. Juniors Colin Keller and Jacob Robinson are talented guards who make big shots. It was Robinson’s 3-pointer at the buzzer that gave the Red Devils a 64-61 victory at Vianney last Friday night.
The Red Devils also have plenty of size up front with 6’7” sophomore forwards Jamison White and Jahidi White Jr. They are the sons of former Cardinal Ritter standout and NBA player Jahidi White. They are joined by 6’10” junior forward Ben Winker and 6’3” senior forward My’Key Rachel.
Chaminade faces another big challenge on Friday night when it hosts DeSmet in another MCC
East St. Louis/SIU Charter Making its Mark
There is something very good brewing with the new boys basketball program at East St. Louis/SIUE Charter School.
In its third year of the program’s existence, the xx are closing in on 20 victories, which includes the championship of the Missouri Valley Christian School Tournament. They also have a victory over Madison, which is annually one of the top small school programs in the metro east area.
Under the direction of head coach Shawn Roundtree, East St. Louis/SIUE Charter fields a team with good athletes who play hard and play together as a team. The top player is 6’2” junior guard KeJuan Rives, who is averaging 19 points, six rebounds and four assists a game.
Junior Jayley Wiley is a 6’2” guard who averages 14 points and 10 rebounds a game while throwing down an impressive crowd-pleasing dunk every game. Senior guard Chross Mister averages eight points and six assists a game. Roundtree calls him the heart and soul of the team.
Rounding out the rotation are 6’2” senior Tra’Veon Dennis, 5’7” sophomore guard Breon Johnson-Cavitt, 6’1” junior Devonte Hyde and 6’4” senior Lathon Streator.
East St. Louis/SIUE Charter will begin postseason play next week at the IHSA Class A Madison regional. They are the No. 5 seed and will host No. 12 seed Lovejoy next Monday at 7 p.m.
IHSA Girls Regionals Begin Next Week
The IHSA girls basketball tournament is underway this week at various sites around the state of Illinois. The big metro east regional tournament is being held at O’Fallon and Collinsville. Alton is the No. 1 seed at Collinsville while O’Fallon heads up its own regional tournament. The winners will advance to the Sectional semifinals next Tuesday at 7 p.m.
