St. Charles County will be a busy place for high school basketball this weekend with two big events taking place.
On Saturday, Terrell Ramey of Rameybasketball.com will be presenting his annual Midwest Showdown Shootout at Lindenwood University. There will be eight games on the schedule, featuring top talent from several states.
The schedule is as follows: Fort Zumwalt North vs. Riverview Gardens, 10 a.m.; John Burroughs vs. Christian-O’Fallon, 11:30 a.m.; St. Charles vs. Decatur McArthur, 1 p.m.; Ladue vs. Chatham-Glenwood, 2:30 p.m.; Cahokia vs. Evansville Bosse, 4 p.m.; Madison Prep vs. Raleigh Egypt (TN), 5:30 p.m.; East St. Louis vs. Chicago De LaSalle, 7 p.m.; Maplewood vs. Memphis East, 8:30 p.m.
Tickets are on sale for $10 for all-day access and $8 for students with an ID.
Down the road at the Family Arena in St. Charles will be the third annual GAC-Suburban Shootout, which will run from Thursday to Saturday. The three-day event will feature 17 games pitting the Gateway Athletic Conference teams from St. Charles County against teams from the Suburban West and Suburban South Conferences.
The games begin at 4 p.m. on Thursday and Friday. On Saturday, the games will begin at 9 a.m. and will run all the way until 9 p.m.
*Maplewood High flexed its defensive muscle last weekend in winning the Webster Classic. The Blue Devils smothered Rockwood Marquette 42-20 with a dominating defensive effort in the championship game. It was Maplewood’s first tournament win since the 2009 season when it won the Class 3 state title. Senior guard Kahlid Hagens averaged 21 poinst a game in the tournament en route to earning MVP honors. The Blue Devils are one of the area’s top teams. They have plenty of size, talent and depth to be a major factor this season.
*It was a big night of basketball at CBC last Friday night when the Cadets hosted Metro Catholic Conference rival Chaminade. In addition to the Cadets’ 59-50 victory, the school honored the 1997 Class 4 state championship team which featured McDonald’s All-American Larry Hughes and All-State forward Justin Tatum. At halftime, the school also retired Hughes’ #20. It was quite an event. That ’97 team was really good and Larry was something truly special back then.
*Fort Zumwalt South won the championship of the St. Charles West Tournament last week with a 54-41 victory over the host Warriors in the championship game. The Bulldogs boast one of the area’s top sophomore duos in 6’0” guard Preston Whitfield and 6’3” guard Marshawn Blackmon. Both players are potent scorers who can create their own offense at any time.
*Metro High junior guard Tayler Miller is enjoying a tremendous opening of the season for the 5-1 Panthers. The 5’10” junior guard is averaging 23.2 points and 12.0 rebounds a game. She is also averaging 3.8 assists and 5.1 steals while shooting 48 percent from the field.
