St. Louis Eagles Wins Sabes Invitational

The St. Louis Eagles rallied from a 15-point second half deficit to defeat the Houston Hoops in the Sabes Invitational 17-and-Under title. The victory qualified the Eagles for a spot in the Nike Peach Jam in July.

Houston Hoops led 42-36 as Darius Gardner hit four three-pointers to lead the team with twelve points. Alex Kirk, a 6-foot-11 center added eight points and Brandon Peters had seven. Super sophomore Brad Beal scored 17 points as the breaks to lead the Eagles.

Houston Hoops expanded the lead to 55-40, but the Eagles rallied as Hunter Ward scored eleven second half points, including three three-pointers and Beal scored his first second half points with 7:56 left. Beal added a three-pointer as the Eagles went up 76-71.

However, the Hoops refused to go away. J-Mychal Reese hit a three-pointer to cut the margin to 76-74 with 35.4 seconds left. Peters made the second of two free throws to cut the margin to one. Beal missed the front end of a one-on-one with 6.1 seconds left, but Gardner missed a running jumper in the lane at the buzzer.

Beal led all scorers with 25 points. Ward scored all eleven points in the second half. Kony Ealy and Chris Babbitt added eight points each in the win.

Houston was led by Kirk, who finished with 20 points, eight rebounds and two blocked shots. Gardner had twelve points and Peters had ten. Kene Anyigbo and Reese had nine points each. Tobi Oyedeji finished with six points.