Earl's Week in Review

Top Team: (Cor Jesu Academy) The CJA girls outlasted a very talented field to win the Webster Groves Winter Challenge. After stunning MWAA conference rival St. Joseph's 47-43 in the semifinals on Friday night, the Markers came back to shock perennial state power Columbia Rock Bridge 47-42 in overtime to win the championship. Cor Jesu emerged from the tournament with a 17-4 record, so they are good team in their own right, but the Markers really earned their bonafides with their championship performance over the weekend.

Top Performance (Ben McLemore) The 6'5" junior standout from Wellston
scored a career-high 50 points to lead the Trojans to an 81-59 victory
over Affton in Suburban East Conference action. McLemore hit 21 of his
26 field goal attempts from the field, including three of seven from
3-point territory. He also had 12 rebounds, seven assists, five steals
and one block in the game.

Bringing the Drama (Javier Duren) The 6'4" junior guard from Oakville
dribbled the length of the court and scored on a spinning layup in the
lane with three seconds remaining to give the Tigers a 71-69 victory
over Webster Groves last Monday, knocking the Statesmen from the ranks
of the undefeated.

Bringing the Drama II (Demeiko Broaden) Cahokia edged Edwardsville 59-58
last Tuesday night as Broaden hit a fallaway 3-pointer from the right
wing as time expired, giving the Comanches the heartstopping victory and
their 17th win of the season.

Bringing the Drama III (Kuna Lahai-Pumagoi) The 6'1" senior guard from
Edwardsville made sure his Tigers avoided another heartbreaking
one-point loss last week. His driving layup with two seconds left gave
the Tigers a 55-54 victory at Belleville West on Friday night.

Four-peat: The Chaminade Red Devils clinched their fourth consecutive
Metro Catholic Conference title with a 75-68 victory at CBC last Friday
night. The victory clinched at least a tie for the title. Chaminade can
win the title outright this week against SLUH. Junior guard Luke
Baumgarner led the Red Devils with 25 points while All-American guard
Bradley Beal added 24 points.


(If you have a team or player that wants to be recognized in Earl's Week
in Review, you can contact Earl Austin Jr. at eaustin@stlamerican.com).