(St. Louis, MO) – St. Louis prep basketball fans are in for a treat this week at the Denver Miller Classic. The eight team tournament features five teams ranked in the STL High School Sports combined rankings.
One of the non-ranked teams is Liberty North (Kansas City area) who, due to injuries is off to a slow start (7-4), but have been to two state tournament final fours in their three years of existence.
Kirkwood High School hosts this annual event named after the legendary Pioneer coach Denver Miller. Current coach Bill Gunn says he is excited about this year’s classic.
Bill Gunn – kirkwoodschools.org
“I think we have another solid line up this year,” he said. “We have several outstanding players and a nice mix of ‘veteran’ coaches and some young ‘up and coming’ head coaches.”
Every team except eighth seeded Eureka, has a winning record and the Wildcats have wins over traditional powers like Parkway South and Troy.
Kirkwood is the three seed and Gunn says, “we’re playing well and we look forward to challenging ourselves before we get into the heart of conference play.”
Two intriguing teams are the top two seeds. # 1 O’Fallon and second seeded McCluer North have played a ‘murderers’ row’ schedule and have beaten some of the best teams in the area and outside the immediate St. Louis surroundings.
O’Fallon (11-4) has won seven of their last eight games and boast in the Southwestern Conference’s leading scorer in Donovan Franklin (20.7). Two of their four losses are to top ranked Alton. They begin the tournament against Eureka.
McCluer North (7-3) won the Borgia Tournament and split four games at the ultra competitive Collinsville Tournament, including a win over the SWC’s East St. Louis. The Stars are the highest scoring team in the SUBXIIN Conference (the old Suburban North), averaging 64 points per game. Their star, Demarco Owens (18.1) is second in the league in individual points-per-game.
The preliminary rounds begin on Thursday (January 15). Four games will overlap that evening in two different gyms.
“With the utilization of both gyms, it’s a great opportunity to enjoy high quality high school basketball in a great environment,” said Gunn.
Friday’s semi-finals and Saturday’s third place and championship games can be seen on www.prepsportsshowcase.com. Join Kevin Paulus, Chris Geisz and me for all the action beginning Friday night (January 16) at 5:30 p.m.
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