Sullivan Anderson Chi-Town is known for producing some of the best athletes in the country, especially hoopers. Some of those top high school players came out to show what they could do in front of a crowd at the recent sixth annual Chicago Elite Classic (CEC). Fourteen Chicago area teams and eight nationally ranked teams from Kansas, Missouri, West Virginia, Ohio and California had it out on the court at the Wintrust Arena.
I’ll admit, when I first got to the event, the Chicago teams weren’t doing too well. We took L after L to the opposing, out of state teams—such as Morgan Park losing to Missouri’s Vashon (75-62)—but when we got on a roll, we got on a roll. The first major win we took was Bogan vs. Dominican from Wisconsin, with an ending score of 72-47. Star performances for the team came from Jeremiah Washington and Tiger Booker. All eyes were on them, and they didn’t fail to execute. They never do!
Bogan blew Dominican out the water, but no game compared to Whitney Young vs. Mater Dei, a team from California, which had the entire stadium on their toes with anxiety. The game came close at several periods, but Whitey Young got the win, ending with a score of 67-61. “DJ started the fire for the team,” said Coach Tyrone Slaughter.
Whitney Young junior DJ Steward contributed the W to his regular routine. “Everyday we just practice hard,” he said. “Today, we came our hardest.” The Dolphin point guard had 25 points and Mater Dei’s Ryan Evans had 22 points—just to name a few stars of the game.
Finally, the Simeon game happened. We, as in me and the rest of the crowd, were on a high after Whitney Young’s big win. Consequently, of course, we expected nothing short of another big win. Simeon failed to execute, but they showed a lot of heart on the court. Heading up against Ohio’s St. Vincent-St. Mary, the game ended with a score of 61-58. Ahamad Bynum had 20 points, Kejuan Clements scored 11 points, Antonio Reeves put up 14 points, and Luden McDay scored 20 points.
The night had some ups and downs, but the energy of the crowd couldn’t be matched. Quite frankly, it seemed as if every teenager in Chicago attended the CEC this year—some because they like basketball and are genuinely entertained by the sport, and some because the Classic serves as a city-wide get together for teens. Either way, it was t’d, to say the least.
Feature Image Credit: He Shoots Lyfe
By Sullivan Anderson, Junior, Jones College Prep
Snapchat: justcallmesully, Twitter: amoursullivan / Blog: sullivangracespeaks.com
