‘Tis the season to be jolly and to enjoy our holiday basketball tournaments, that will be going on around the St. Louis metro area for the next two weeks. Here is a quick preview of the holiday tournaments on both sides of the river.
Coaches vs. Cancer (at Meramec): Dec. 27-30 – Undefeated St. Mary’s is the No. 1 seed. The Dragons are looking to repeat as the tournament champions. They are followed by No. 2 Hazelwood Central, No. 3 Jennings, No. 4 Kirkwood, No. 5 SLUH and No. 6 Marquette. A St. Mary’s-Hazelwood Central matchup in the finals would be a delicious proposition, but several other teams will have something to say about that. The championship game is set for Saturday, December 30 at 8 p.m.
MICDS: (Dec. 22-29) – The loaded 16-team field is paced by No. 1 seed Parkway Central, which advanced to the Class 4 Final Four last season. The Colts are followed by No. 2 Whitfield, No. 3 Francis Howell, No. 4 Duchesne and No. 5 Ladue. There are quality teams from top to bottom. The championship game is set for Friday, December 29 at 7 p.m.
Collinsville: (Dec. 28-30) – The 16-team tournament is filled with teams from the metro east, Central Illinois with a few from the St. Louis side of the river. Southwestern Conference rivals East St. Louis, Collinsville and Edwardsville are featured on the bottom side of the bracket. The top of the bracket is paced by Springfield Southeast, Lincoln and Quincy. The championship game is scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 30 at 7:30 p.m.
Centralia: (Dec. 28-30) – The prestigious Southern Illinois tournament features local teams such as Belleville West, Alton, Confluence Academy, Cahokia and O’Fallon. Belleville West is one of the top contenders while tournament newcomer Confluence is also one team to watch. The championship game is scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 30 at 9 p.m.
Visitation (Girls): Dec. 22-28 – The top girls tournament in the St. Louis metro area features four teams that played for state championships last season in No. 1 Incarnate Word (Class 4 state champion), No. 2 Edwardsville (Illinois Class 4 runner-up), No. 3 Kirkwood (Class 5 state champion) and No. 4 Whitfield (Class 3 runner-up). The tournament is loaded with quality teams up and down the bracket. The championship game is set for Thursday, Dec. 28 at 8 p.m.
There will be other boys’ holiday tournaments that will be held at Affton and St. Dominic while the top girls’ tournament on the Illinois side will be held at Mascoutah.
Torrence reaches 2,000
Whitfield senior standout Torrence Watson reached the 2,000-point plateau last week in a victory over Lift for Life. The 6’5” guard reached the milestone in high style as he scored on a three-point play to reach 2,000 points, but he went on to score 47 more points in the game to finish with 50 points on the night. For the season, the University of Missouri signee is averaging 29 points a game. You can catch Watson in action again in the MICDS Tournament as Whitfield is the No. 2 seed. They will face Christian-O’Fallon in the first round on Friday at 6 p.m.
Midwest Showdown Shootout a big success
Congratulations to Terrell Ramey on putting on another Midwest Showdown Shootout last Saturday at Webster Groves. In the featured game of the six-game event, Chaminade edged Vashon 77-74 in a battle of St. Louis area powers. Senior forward Jericole Hellems paced Chaminade with 24 points, followed by junior guard Keyyaun Batchman with 15 points and sophomore forward Luke Kasubke with 16 points. Vashon was led by sophomore guard Phillip Russell, who scored a season-high 24 points. Junior guard Mario McKinney added 18 points for the Wolverines.
