The Brad Beal Elite 17U basketball team enjoyed an excellent grassroots season while playing in the prestigious Nike Elite Youth Basketball League, which is the top high school summer league in the nation.
Formerly named the St. Louis Eagles, the team changed its name in honor of Beal, a former Chaminade College Prep All-American who led the Eagles to the EYBL championship game in 2010. He is now a star shooting guard for the Washington Wizards.
Brad Beal Elite concluded its EYBL season last weekend by advancing to the Final Four of the Nike Peach Jam in North Augusta, S.C. The top 24 teams in the EYBL regular season qualify for the Peach Jam. BBE finished the regular season with a 13-3 record and compiled a 6-1 record in the Peach Jam for an impressive 19-4 overall record.
The leader for Brad Beal Elite over the weekend was 6’7” forward Jericole Hellems of Chaminade, who averaged 22 points and eight rebounds a game while becoming the breakout performer at the Peach Jam. Hellems enjoyed some dominant games throughout the week and saw his recruiting stock go through the roof in just a matter of days.
After the first two days of the tournament, Hellems received a dozen scholarship offers from schools such as Missouri, Illinois, Georgia Tech, Arkansas, Ole Miss, Wake Forest, Boston College, VCU, UMass, George Washington, Wichita State and Kansas State.
Brad Beal is made up mostly of players from the St. Louis metro area, but they also have two standout players from outside the state of Missouri. The other top standouts from in-state include guard Shaun Williams of Hazelwood Central, forward Kale Catchings of Liberty, guard Fred Thatch of Sikeston, forward E.J. Liddell of Belleville West and forward Karrington Davis of Chaminade, who was injured and did not play last weekend. The out of state players were five-star point guard Darius Garland (Nashville, TN), who is ranked as one of the Top 20 players nationally in the Class of 2018; and 6’9” power forward Francis Okoro (Bloomington, IL), who is one of the top forwards in the Class of 2019.
Two summer events come to St. Louis
There will be two big grassroots basketball tournaments coming to St. Louis this weekend. The aforementioned Brad Beal Elite club will be hosting the Battle for the Arch this weekend at the Center of St. Louis Sports (6727 Langley, Ave.) in Affton. Several top programs from around the Midwest region will be in attendance, led by all of the Brad Beal Elite teams from 14U to 17U. The tournament will be held from Thursday to Sunday.
The Gateway Basketball Club and Premier Sports will be hosting the Adidas Three Stripes Alliance Tournament, which will be held from Thursday to Sunday at Lindenwood University in St. Charles. There will be teams from Missouri, Arkansas, Illinois and Wisconsin participating in the tournament.
Jets-Ramey Select wins NY2LA championship
Congratulations to the Jets-Ramey United 17U team on winning the Platinum Division championship at the NY2LA Next Level Invitational in Mequon, WI. They defeated Team Blaze in the championship game. Members of the team include Malachi Smith (Belleville West), Jalen Hodge (O’Fallon), Kevin Caldwell (Alton), Caleb Strohmeier (Edwardsville), Jhaylen Covington-Berry (Hazelwood Central), Blake Weiss (Mascoutah).
St. Louis Surge completes undefeated regular season
The St. Louis Surge completed a perfect regular season by defeating the Music City Ions 116-47 in their home finale at Washington University last Sunday. The Surge finished the season with a 10-0 record. They will be competing in the Women’s Blue Chip Basketball League National Tournament on Aug. 5-6 at Fontbonne University. The Surge are the defending WBCBL National champions. For more information on the Surge and for ticket info for the playoffs, visit the website, STLSurgebasketball.com.
