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Hazelwood Central, McCluer North Win Holiday Basketball Tournaments
By Jim Wieners
Hazelwood Central and McCluer North each serves notice to high school boys basketball teams in the Suburban North Conference that the road to the conference title runs through the Hawks and Stars.
Hazelwood Central won the 33rd Meramec Holiday Festival on the Meramec campus of St. Louis Community College while McCluer North won the Centralia, Ill., Holiday Classic.
Hazelwood Central defeated St. Charles West, 61-28, University City, 85-57, Vianney, 76-67, and DeSmet, 78-46. It was the second Meramec Holiday Festival title for the Hawks, who won in 2003, after finishing second two years in a row and three times in the last five years.
“It’s a great feeling,” said Hazelwood Central head coach Josh Martin. “The win was great, I’m happy for the kids (and) these kids deserve it.” Tre Anderson and Cody Fondren each scored 17 points against University City, Fondren scored 16 against Vianney, Jordan Wilson, who was named to the All-Tournament Team for the second year in a row, scored 17 against DeSmet and Curtis Churchman, an All-Tournament Team selection, scored 12 against St. Charles West.
McCluer North defeated four Illinois high schools to win the Centralia Tournament. The Stars defeated Salem, 91-55, Belleville West, 60-48, Chicago Bogan, 69-67, and O’Fallon, 62-58. B.J. Young, who averaged 30.5 points per game in the Centralia Tournament, scored 38 against Chicago Bogan, 32 against Salem, 31 against O’Fallon and 21 against Belleville West. Jordan Granger, who averaged 15.5 points per game at Centralia, scored 23 against Belleville West.
HAZELWOOD WEST took third in the 40 Annual Chaminade Christmas Tournament and The Wildcats defeated Parkway Central, 84-63, lost to Chaminade 78-57, and defeated Bayless, 69-59. Darris Smith averaged 21.7 points per game, had 18 assists and 10 steals at Chaminade. West head coach Cary Lewis, Jr., said the Wildcats are playing hard but “we still need to play a lot better in January.”
HAZELWOOD EAST took third place in the 77th Annual Normandy Holiday Tournament defeating Suburban North rival Ritenour, 63-30, lost to 2009-10 Class Three State Champion Cardinal Ritter, 73-63, and defeated Northwest Academy of Transportation and Law (with Big Picture Alternate), 62-56. John Greer averaged 13 points per game while Jarrell Gross made 15 out of 19 free throws (79 percent).
McCLUER took the consolation title at SLCC-Meramec losing to Vianney, 75-68, defeating Eureka, 63-59, Parkway West, 71-62, and Lafayette, 62-46. Shaquille Boga, scoring 27.3 points per game, was named to the All-Tournament Team.
LUTHERAN NORTH took fifth place at the Mary Institute Country Day School Tournament defeating Brentwood, 79-51, losing to Miller Career Academy, 58-45, defeating host MICDS, 53-50, and Whitfield, 73-60. Anthony Virdure, who was named to the All-Tournament Team, averaged 14 points per game with 14 assists.
NORTH COUNTY TECHNICAL took the consolation title a week before Christmas at the Lutheran-St. Charles County Nike Cougar Classic. North Tech lost to Elsberry, 76-54, defeated Lift For Life Academy (St. Louis), 51-40, and the host Cougars, 67-54., Rodney Marble, who was named to the All-Tournament Team, scored 13 points per game.
