David Lee & Larry Hughes Midwest Slam Jam Review

There was some exciting basketball played at this weekend's David Lee and Larry Hughes Midwest Slam Jam Tournament at Saint Louis University. The tourney was also presented by the St. Louis Gateway Classic Sports Foundation and the St. Louis Visitors and Convention Commission.

 I spent all weekend at the tournament and saw some pretty good action, especially during's Sunday's championship round. Here is a recap of the weekend, by their division.

 17U: Baylor (formerly STL Fusion Elite) has a talented 16U team that up in the 17U division and came away with the tournament championship. Baylor defeated the Illinois Titans 64-55 in the finals. Baylor rode the hot shooting of sophomores Paul McRoberts (Soldan) and Demetrius Floyd (McCluer) to the championship. The 6'3" McRoberts scored a game-high 27 points, including seven 3-pointers while Floyd added 20 points, including four 3-pointers. Baylor came out of the gate hot as its first seven field goals of the game were 3-pointers.

 The Titans were an extremely talented team made up primarily of kids who attend Brehm Prep Academy in Carbondale, Ill. The Titans were led by point guard Bruce Barron and 6'9" forward Emmanuel Ochenje with 12 points each.

  Coached by Arnaud Jones, Baylor played a lot of close games throughout the weekend, but they stayed strong to win the championship in the older age group. They have an excellent perimeter trio of McRoberts, Floyd and Travon Williams (University City), who can all score off dribble or from long range. Williams had one heroic moment on Friday night in pool play when he followed up his own missed jumper and scored at the buzzer to give Baylor a 67-66 victory over the St. Louis Raptors.

 Another young man for Baylor to watch in the future is 6'7" sophomore Darrell Johnson (Parkway North), who is still developing, but he is active, has a nice body, with a lot of potential. If he keeps working, he can be real good player. Darrell also plays on an AAU team based out of Memphis, so he is going to be quite busy this summer.

 "It's big to win the 17-and-under championship here," Jones said. "We played in the older division to get us ready for the big national tournaments during the summer. The kids came together and played well.

 In the semifinals, Baylor rallied to defeat the Illinois Bears 67-64 in overtime as Floyd a game-high 28 points with Travon Williams (University City) scoring 14 points and McRoberts adding 13. Guard Conner Wheeler (Carbondale H.S.) led the Bears with 25 points. In the other semifinal game, The Titans defeated the Raptors 76-68 as Barron scored a team-high 14 points to lead a balanced scoring attack. The Raptors were led by 6'3" guard Brendan Wheeler (Edwardsville) with 25 points. Wheeler scored from the perimeter all weekend as he averaged more than 20 points a game.

 One other notable player who played well over the weekend is guard Trae Anderson of Team Swish. The 6'3" swingman from Hazelwood Central is really starting to turn some heads with his excellent play this spring. I will have a story on Trae Anderson and his emergence on the website later tonight. The 16U STL Hoop Squad also played some fine basketball during pool play while playing up in the 17U division. The St. Louis Raptors also had a solid squad led by the aforementioned Wheeler of Edwardsville. They had another wing shooter in 6'6" Sam Stix of Holt, a nifty little point guard in sophomore George Cater of Fort Zumwalt West and inside presence from 6'7" Duke Ezeamii of Holt and 6'7" Bryan Drauckner of Triad.

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16U: The St. Louis Eagles rolled to the championship in relatively easy fashion. They defeated the Illinois Town Storm 65-44 in the championship game. The Eagles used a balanced attack in the championship game led by Cory Arensten (Breese Mater Dei) with 16 points, Jordon Granger (McCluer North) with 10 points, Willie Wiley (Springfield, Ill.) with nine points and Jared White (De Soto) with eight points. The Eagles had been knocking on the door for the past month with three Final Four appearances this spring, but they broke through to win their first tourney title.

 Despite the loss in the championship game, it was a very good weekend for the Storm, a team made up of players who played junior varsity ball at East St. Louis Senior High. Coach Dwan Prue got the team together just over a week ago, but he got his group of athletes to compete hard and got them into the championship game. Guard Lamar Jones led the Storm with 17 points in the finals while 6'4" power forward Demarcus Lee added eight points. Lee is a widebody who has a nice touch in the lane. The Storm suffered a big loss in the first half when forward Keenan Lawson suffered a bad hip injury and had to leave the building on a stretcher. Lawson is an active 6'3" athlete who is always in the action making plays.

 The Storm pulled off a major victory in the semifinals when they defeated the established Tennessee Travelers 63-57 to get to the championship game. The Storm trailed for much of the game, but they made a big move in the last six minutes to overtake the Travelers and get the win. Freshman guard Phil Lockhart led the Storm with 20 points while Lee added 16 points. The Storm also has another player of the future from the East Side in 6'3" freshman Demis Jones, who is flat-out dynamic around the basket. In the other semifinal game, the Eagles defeated the St. Louis Raptors 60-44 as 6'5" forward Cameron Biedscheid led the Eagles with 24 points. Birdscheid continued his excellent play this spring with another big tournament.

 The Raptors are a solid basketball team coached by Carey Brown. I liked the play of 6'7" power forward Mitchell Wilfer (Wentzville Holt) as well as his teammate Orlando Jackson. Guard Derrick Deters (Troy) and thin athletic 6'5" post player Marcus Lamasters (University City) was very active.

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15U: The most exciting game of the day came in the championship when the St. Louis Eagles (White) defeated the Tennessee Travelers 51-50 in a real heart-stopper. Forward Terence Davis (McCluer North) converted a layup with two seconds left in the game to give the Eagles the victory. Point guard Tyrin Williams (Riverview Gardens) penetrated the lane in the closing seconds and gave Williams a nice pass underneath, who powered up in traffic for the winning points. Davis scored the Eagles' final seven points of the game to lead his team down the stretch.

  The 6'2" Davis hit a 3-pointer from the left win to tie the game at 47-47 with one minute and 32 seconds left. After a turnover, Williams converted two free throws with 52 seconds left to give the Eagles a 49-47 lead. Tennessee guard D.J. Bowles scored on a drive to the basket to tie the score at 49-49 with 29 seconds left. With 19 seconds left, Bowles hit the first of two free throws to give the Travelers a 50-49 lead, which set up the late heroics by the two Williams and Davis. The Travelers had one last chance to win, but Shannon Hale's jumper from the top of the key bounced off the rim as time expired.

 Freshman power forward Shacquille Edwards (McCluer) led the Eagles while 16 points while guard Tyler Jordan (Eureka) added 10 points. Davis scored nine points while Tyrin Williams added eight points. The 6'4" Edwards was solid all weekend in the post while playing against bigger players. The Travelers were led by talented 6'7" forward Shannon Hale's 14 points. Hale has a tremendous amount of ability and I look forward to see how he turns out in the future. The young man has a nice post up game, but he can also shoot from the perimeter and handle and pass the basketball. He can also block shots and patrol the lane. In the semifinals against the Wohl Pressure, Hale scored a team-high 29 points in the a 70-65 victory. The Wohl team had a great individual performance as well as freshman Martavian Payne (Rockwood Marquette) scored a game-high 31 points.

  In the other semifinal game, the St. Louis Eagles (White) defeated the St. Louis Eagles (Blue) 57-45 in a battle of the two home teams. Tyler Jordan led the Eagles White with 13 points while Terrance Williams added nine points. The 6'2" Tyler is an exciting young wing player with a bright future. The Eagles Blue team was led by guard Anthony Virdure (Lutheran North) with 12 points. The Eagles Blue team has an imposing young front line, featuring 6'8" Nolan Berry (DeSmet), 6'6" Jordan Martin (Hazelwood Central) and versatile 6'5" Jordan Swopshire (Fort Zumwalt South).

  Congratulations to Eagles White coach Daryl "Pee Wee" Lenard on leading his team to the 15U championship. "Pee Wee" is a great basketball mind who really knows how to get the best out of his kids. His passion for the game is un-matched and it rubs off on all of his players.

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14U: The Mid-American Elite from Springfield, Ill. defeated the STL Warriors 53-39 in the championship game. The winners were led by guard Larry Austin, who scored 18 points. Fellow guard Malik Turner added 10 points. Austin and Turner are an explosive backcourt combination that can get to the basket at any time. Together, they led Grant Middle School in Springfield, Ill. to an eighth-grade state championship in Illinois. Turner scored a game-high 17 points in the Mid-American Elite's 46-28 victory over Team Swish. The Warriors were led by athletic guard Deantrell "Butter" Prince throughout the tournament. Prince scored a team-high 24 points in the championship game against Mid-American Elite. He scored 13 points to lead the Warriors past the Illinois Town Storm 53-40 in the semifinals.  Overall, it was a fun weekend of basketball. Congratulations to all of the winners. It was also good to see Larry Hughes stop by and say hello to all of the kids and take in some of the action. I look forward to next year's tournament. I'm always impressed when I watch the Warriors play because they play hard all of the time. Whether they win or lose, they are never cheated in the effort department. That will take those kids a long way. 

  Overall, it was good to see some competitive basketball over the weekend. We also had a chance to see two Saint Louis University legends in the house. Larry Hughes stopped by on Saturday night to say hello to the kids and take in some of the action. On Friday night, former SLU legend and basketball Hall of Famer Easy Ed McCauley was in the house to watch some of the games. McCauley's grandson is freshman Nolan Berry of DeSmet, who plays for the STL Eagles White team. It was nice to see Easy Ed out and about.