STL Eagles 17U advance to Final Four of the Nike EYBL Playoffs

The St. Louis Eagles 17U boys earned a berth in the Final Four of the Nike Elite Youth Basketball League Finals at the Peach Jam in Augusta, Georgia.

 The Eagles defeated the Oakland Soldiers 82-76 in the quarterfinals on Wednesday night. The victory avenged an earlier loss to the Soldiers in Session No. 3 of the EYBL in Los Angeles during Memorial Day weekend. Bradley Beal (Chaminade) led the Eagles with 24 points while Ben McLemore (Oak Hill Academy) added 18 points and six rebounds.

 The Eagles will face Team Final (Pennsylvania) in the semifinals on Thursday at 9 a.m. Team Final is led by 6'7" forward Michael Gilchrist, the No. 1 rated player in the country in the Class of 2011. The winner will face either Indy Spiece or Team Takeover for the championship on Thursday at 3 p.m.

 The Eagles won their pool with a 4-1 record. They closed out pool play with an 82-58 victory over Athletes First from Oklahoma. Roosevelt Jones (O'Fallon) led the Eagles with 23 points while Beal and McLemore (Oak Hill Academy) added 12 points. Adam Adeoye (Marion, Ill.) also scored 10 points.

 In their opening game, the Eagles defeated All Ohio Red 79-65 points behind 21 points from McClemore, 20 from Jones and 14 points and seven assists from Shaquille Boga (McCluer). The Eagles lost their second game to the Metro Hawks from New York 54-52. They bounced back to defeat Louisiana Select 63-54 as Boga led the way with 22 points, with Jones adding 13 points with Beal scoring 10. The Eagles then defeated the Mac Irvin Fire from Chicago 75- 69 as Beal scored a game-high 25 points. Seth Jackson (CBC) added 10 points while Carson Sonnerberg (Belleville Althoff) grabbed 10 rebounds.

 The EYBL Finals consists of all of the top 24 qualifiers from the 42-team Nike EYBL, which held three different sessions in Hampton, Va., Houston and Los Angeles to determine the top teams who earned trips to Augusta this week.

 Including this week's action, the Eagles have a 17-3 record in Nike EYBL games.