Chaminade Thumps St. Mary's Draws Belleville West in Tourney Finals
Bryan Turner walked into Belleville East's gym with visions of defense dancing in his head. There would be crisp rotations, dynamite ball denials and full-court pressure that would slow Chaminade's break-neck attack and help his St. Mary's basketball team to victory.
What Turner needed was a speed limit.
Chaminade's high-octane attack blew past St. Mary's for a 97-77 victory Friday in the semifinals of the Belleville East Classic at East.
The No. 4 large school in the STLhighschoolsports.com rankings, Chaminade (13-2) won its eighth consecutive game and advanced to defend its tournament title at 7:30 p.m. Saturday. It'll meet No. 1 large school Belleville West (17-1), which knocked off Champaign Central in the other semifinal.
The Red Devils set up the heavyweight showdown by clubbing the Dragons with their own medicine. St. Mary's (15-3, No. 3 SS) runs most opponents out of the gym with its fast-paced, up-and-down style.
Chaminade is not most opponents. Senior forward and North Carolina State recruit Jericole Hellems led five players in double figures with a game-high 30 points, eight rebounds, five assists, two steals and three blocks. The 6-foot-7 Hellems was sensational as he scored in the paint, on the perimeter and when the clean look wasn't there kept the ball moving.
“We followed (coach Frank Bennett's) plan. He told us we had to get the ball moving,” Hellems said. “Just try to get it inside. No settling. Try to finish inside as much as we can.”
When Chaminade finished inside, it opened up the outside where Luke Kasubke once again proved to be lethal. The sophomore sharpshooter scored 18 points and knocked down four 3-pointers. He also had four rebounds.
“Luke is getting better. He's a workaholic,” Hellems said. “He stays in the gym every morning. He just works his butt off. He's going to be a great player.”
Chaminade led 26-22 after the first quarter. St. Mary's was without senior guard Miles Jones, who's nursing a stress fracture. and is expected to return next week. Without one of their key pieces, the Dragons struggled to score in the early going. Behind senior guard Donavanne Austin, St. Mary's trimmed Chaminade's lead to 26-22.
Chaminade junior guard Keyyaun Batchman opened the second quarter with a 3-point play. Kasubke buried his third 3-pointer shortly after to extended the Red Devils' lead to 32-22.
Chaminade sophomore guard Harrison Vickers buried a 3-pointer to make it 41-29 with just more than three and a half minutes to play in the first half. St. Mary's didn't trim the lead to single digits again.
“It was a track meet, but we knew they'd try to run the score up, getting the game in the high 90s. We preached defense. It was going to be a defensive game,” Turner said. “We went out there and lost our assignments a few times and guys got free for threes. That was our No. 1 thing coming was limit their threes.”
Even when St. Mary's got the stop it needed it couldn't get the ball back. The Red Devils grabbed 12 offensive rebounds. Senior post Henry Gladson had seven of them. Gladson finished with 13 points, 12 rebounds and three steals before fouling out with just more than three minutes to play.
“He's always a difference maker,” Hellems said. “I love having him.”
Batchman finished with 11 points. Senior point guard Jadis White scored 10 points. Vickers scored nine points and grabbed six rebounds.
“Rebounds are key. You can't give a team second and third chances at a possession and they took advantage of that,” Turner said. “You give a good team like that 12 more shots at a basket, that's an appetite for destruction.”
St. Mary's got a team-high 15 points from junior point guard Yuri Collins. He finished with six rebounds, two assists and six steals. Austin had 13 points, three rebounds and two steals. Senior guard Tony Burks scored 13 points and had five steals. Mitchell scored 14 points and had a team-best seven rebounds. Senior post Yahuza Rasas scored 10 points and grabbed four boards.
St. Mary's and Chaminade will meet one more time. They are scheduled to play Feb. 6 at St. Mary's.
Not that the Dragons can look that far ahead. They have a tough third-place game to get through on Saturday against Champaign Central.
“We have to leave this loss in the locker room and get ready,” Turner said. “I like the way we fought, but I'm not satisfied getting smacked by 20.” - by David Kvidahl of the St. Louis Post Dispatch