The Class 5, District 3 boys championship game between Chaminade and Webster Groves on Saturday, Feb. 26 may not have been televised on ESPN, but it has definitely achieved “Instant Classic” status.
Top-ranked Chaminade survived an 80-76 knock-down, drag-out battle against the determined host Statesmen in a game that lived up to all of the pre-game hype. The game resembled one of those old-school 15-round heavyweight championship bouts when both fighters were clearly tired and on wobbly legs, but were still managing to throw haymakers at each other until the final bell rang.
It was truly a special afternoon of basketball for all who got a chance to witness it.
The game had all of the elements of a Classic:
*You had the No. 1 team in the state and nationally-ranked Chaminade taking on the host Webster Groves Statesmen, a talented, yet gritty bunch of kids that take on their personality of their head coach Jay Blossom, who is as intense a competitior as you are going to find. Folks who thought the Devils were just going to come in Webster Groves’ house and just dominate were just missing the boat. This was going to be a battle for survival.
*A packed Roberts Gym: The tickets for the game went on sale on Friday at both schools and were sold out within 20 minutes. As I approached the building, there were people standing outside the gym in search of tickets. For a minute, I thought I was at a Rams game at the Dome.
*A media throng: Media members from all print, radio, television and
internet entities were in the house for this one. All of my media boys
were in the house from Nate Latsch, Dave Kvidal, Paul Ellis, Harry
Schroeder, Jim Powers and many more. It was quite a representation of media folks for a high school game.
*Another virtuoso performance by the All-American headline performer: As usual, all eyes would be on All-American guard Bradley Beal of Chaminade, and he delivered another spectacular performance with a game-high 40 points. Beal hit eight 3-pointers, many of them with a high-degree of difficulty. The Statesmen threw waves of athletic defenders at him, but Beal managed to stand up to the heat and make some big-time shots. He also had nine rebounds, six assists and two blocks. To Webster’s credit, their strategy of making Beal work for every point was nearly successful
as he was exhausted at the end of the game. He turned human for an instant with five missed free throws down the stretch. Other than that, Beal was Beal. What more can you say?
*A rising co-star who almost stole the show: Webster Groves junior guard Rayshawn Simmons did his best to steal all of the thunder from Beal as he scored 33 points to nearly lead the Statesmen to the upset. The smooth 6’4″ Simmons matched Beal point-for-point and move-for-move for most of the game with an assortment of twisting drives to the hoop, pull-up jumpers and 3-pointers. Even in a losing effort, area basketball fans will remember the name Rayshawn Simmons. He was that good. And he has another
year left.
*An unsung hero performance that truly saved the day for the No. 1 team:
Senior guard Tevin Evans was nowhere to be found in the first half as he picked up two early fouls and had to sit down for much of the half. The second half was a different story as he exploded for 14 of his 17 points to save the Red Devils from an early departure. Evans hit four 3-pointers in the second half and all four of them were big. He hit back-to-back treys in the third quarter to turn a 43-41 deficit into a 47-43 lead. His biggest 3-pointer came with just under two minutes left to give the Red Devils a 77-76 lead. Evans then hit two more free throws with 16 seconds left to push the lead to 79-76 lead. The kid was clutch when it mattered the most for his team. Kudos to the young man. If it wasn’t for him, Chaminade would be turning in their uniforms on Monday instead of getting ready for the sectionals.
*A little dust up: Things got a little hairy in the first half when both
teams got involved in a little bench-clearing shoving match. Technical
fouls were handed out and one player was even ejected. An already
emotional situation was just amped up even more. Fortunately, that added emotion was channeled into a great performance on the court by both teams instead of any further incident.
*Even the individual who was in charge of the house music was on point. When the little dust-up happened in the first half, the individual cued up the old classic “Why Can’t We Be Friends” from the group War. During a time-out in the fourth quarter, the maestro played the song “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.” The music director was clearly feeling the moment of the situation.
*The Girl Scouts even got into the act. In a great business move, local Troop 837 had a couple of tables set up outside the gym and across the street to sell cookies. I could not resist. I bought a box of those old-school Shortbread cookies while my buddy Steve Kovach loaded up with four or five boxes of cookies.
We enjoyed a wonderful high school basketball experience at Roberts Gym on Saturday afternoon. If the upcoming state playoffs can come close to the level of this district championship game, we should have a lot of fun in the month of March.
(You can follow Earl Austin Jr.’s daily basketball reports on his
website, www.earlaustinjr.com).
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