I will be spending the weekend in Augusta, GA watching many of the nation’s top high school basketball players compete at the Nike Peach Jam. The tournament features 24 of the top summer basketball clubs in the country with hundreds of top collegiate coaches in attendance.
The St. Louis Eagles 17Us will be in one of the teams competing in the Peach Jam as will the Eagles 16U team. I will be filing several reports on the Peach Jam. You can follow me at the Peach Jam at twitter.com/earlaustinjr or my basketball website, www.earlaustinjr.com for updates.
Some of the top high school national talent in the Peach Jam will include Chicago’s dominant low-post duo of 6’10” Jahlil Okafor and 6’9” Cliff Alexander, top point guard Tyus Jones of Minnesota, 6’7” Stanley Johnson of California, 6’6” Justice Winslow of Houston, 6’10” Chris McCullough of New York and many, many more. For a hoops junkie like myself, it is a dream.
Good local basketball
If you want to see some good local basketball this weekend, Lindenwood University in St. Charles is the place to be. It will be the site of the Mullens High Profile Tournament and Junior College Showcase. National talent scout Jerry Mullens is bringing close to 100 top summer basketball teams from the Midwest Region in the 15U, 16U and 17U divisions. In conjuction with the high school tournament, Mullens is also presenting his annual Junior College Showcase, which features 100 of the top juco prospects in the country. For a schedule of this weekend’s events, you can visit Jerry’s website at mullensports.net.
Verbal commitments
Several area high school athletes gave verbal commitments in recent days. Parkway Central football standout Jonathan Bonner has given a commitment to Notre Dame. A 6’4” 245-pound defensive end, Bonner had 64 tackles and 12 quarterback sacks for the Colts, who advanced to the Class 5 state semifinals last season.
MICDS basketball standout Robin Thompson has committed to Missouri State University. The 6’6” Thompson averaged 13.4 points, 6.6 rebounds and 2.3 blocks as a junior en route to earning All-State honors. He is playing with the St. Louis Eagles 17U team this summer. Oakville High’s Austin Gillmann committed to Saint Louis University. The 6’11” Gillman was an All-Suburban West Conference performer as a junior. He plays with the Gateway Basketball Club in the summer. Freeburg’s 6’9” center Justin Diecker is headed to Kennesaw State, which is outside of Atlanta. Diecker also plays for the St. Louis Eagles.
IL Coaches All-Star Game
The Metro East area was well represented as last week’s Illinois Basketball Coaches All-Star Game, which was played in Bloomington, Ill. Malcolm Hill (Belleville East), Garret Covington and Tre Harris (Edwardsville) and Nick Van Osdale (Belleville West) all had big games in leading the South All-Stars to a 152-142 victory over the North All-Stars. Covington earned Most Valuable Player honors after scoring 18 points, including four 3-pointers. Hill scored a team-high 23 points while grabbing eight rebounds. Harris scored 15 points while Van Osdale added 12 points for the South.
Basketball Academy
Former Saint Louis University basketball greats Anthony Bonner and Roland Gray will be featured coaches at a Summer Basketball Camp at the West County Basketball Academy (140 Long Road) in Chesterfield. The camp, which is for boys and girls between third and 12th grades, run from July 15-18 from. There will be two sessions. The first will run from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. and the second from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. The cost of the camp is $165 for a half day or $235 for a full day. Former SLU coach Rich Grawer will be a special guest speaker. For more information, visit the website www.westcountybasketball.com.
Prep football standouts
Congratulations to the prep football standouts who will represent St. Louis at the upcoming NFL High School Player Development 7-on-7 National Tournament, which begins this weekend in Cleveland. The 12-member team consists of: Devin Alexander (Ritenour), Jonathan Bonner (Parkway Central), Brandon Brice and Jimmy Jones (Hazelwood East), Markel Smith (Vianney), Justin Andrews (Normandy), Brandon Moore (Mehlville), Kyle Kinner (Westminster), Cole Sigmund (MICDS), Sam Frelich (Chaminade), Zach Muniz (CBC) and Brett Siebenshuh (Francis Howell).
Surging to a close
The St. Louis Surge will close out its regular season in Women’s Blue Chip Basketball League play on Saturday night against the Missouri Arch Angels. The game will be played at the University of Missouri-St. Louis at 7:05 p.m. The Surge are currently 6-0 on the season. The Illinois Shooting Stars also close out its regular season on Saturday by hosting the undefeated Auburn Flyers at the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Center in East St. Louis. Tip off is at 2 p.m. The Shooting Stars will also be hosting the WBCBL Regional Tournament in East St. Louis on July 20.
Women’s Football
The St. Louis SLAM will host the Dallas Diamonds in the semifinals of the Women’s Football Alliance Playoffs on Saturday night at Oakville High (5557 Milburn). Kickoff is at 7 p.m.
(You can also follow Earl Austin Jr. on twitter.com/earlaustinjr or on his basketball website, www.earlaustinjr.com.)
