Blue Springs South bests Grain Valley

by Bill Althaus

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Perhaps no player in the history of the storied Grain Valley High School boys basketball program has earned more respect from opposing players than junior guard Eli Herbert.

He set an all-time single-game scoring record with a 44-point performance in a Grain Valley Invitational semifinal win over Fort Osage, and attracted a lot of attention from Jaguar defenders in a 67-57 loss to Blue Springs South in Friday night's championship game.

South guard Chris Ellis asked coach Josh Smith for the assignment of guarding Eli, who finished with 24 hard-earned points.

"Man, Eli scored 24 and I feel like I did a great job guarding him," Ellis said, grinning. "He's a baller. He can play and he can shoot, but I made him work hard for every point he got tonight."

After the game, Ellis was greeted by Eagles coach Andy Herbert, who is Eli's father.

"Now that's class," Ellis said. "For their coach to come over and congratulate me on our win, that is pure class."

As Ellis talked, his teammate Jesiah Fisher stood behind him and mouthed, 'The best!'"

And then gave his teammate a thumb's up."


Eli always draws an opponent's top defender, and he had to work hard just to get the ball against the Jaguars.

"Chris played great defense tonight and they all played a great game," Eli said after his team fell to 8-7 on the season. "It was a physical game, and they collapsed on me. The biggest difference tonight was they played tougher than we did. 

"We had too many turnovers and weren't tough enough when we needed to be."

Smith was thrilled with his team's overall performance as the Jaguars improved to 14-3.

"We just gave Chris a shout out in our locker room," Smith said. "He had a heckuva game. Eli is an unbelievable player. He scored his points - he always does - but we made him work for all of them. Chris just locked him down all night."

Another marquee player for the Jaguars was all-state football star Blayne Marshall, who is quickly becoming an all-state basketball candidate.

"Blayne is a great football player and a great basketball player - he's just a great athlete," the coach added. "We knew Andy's players would make a run at us - which they did - and we always had an answer."

The Jaguars led 33-27 at the half, and then had to deal with Eli's 13-point third quarter, as Grain Valley went into the fourth quarter trailing 48-44.

"You don't stop Eli," Ellis said, "you slow him down, and we able to slow him down in the fourth quarter."

Eli did not score a point in the fourth quarter, and didn't receive much offensive support as no other Eagle scored in double figures.

"We need to get more offense going," Coach Herbert said, "it's something we've worked on all season."

Marshall scored 11 points in the first quarter, foreshadowing his 21-point night.

"Let's talk about Chris," Marshall said, pointing to his teammate. "He wanted that matchup, he wanted to guard Eli, and that set the tone for everyone. We saw how hard he was working, how hard Eli was working, and we knew we had to match their work ethic. This has turned into a great rivalry and we're excited to win the championship for the second year in a row."

Sully Mohamed, South's always-smiling 6-foot-8 center, had his hands full all night going against the Eagles' Kevin Johnson and Sam Pendergrass.

"You better be willing to play hard for 40 minutes when you play Grain Valley," said Mohamed, who scored 10 points and added 11 boards. "Everyone knows what a great player Eli is, and everyone should know what a great player Blayne is. There was a lot of talent on the court tonight and it's cool to win our second consecutive championship.

Cooper Callahan also scored 10 points for the Jaguars.

Photo credit: David Rainey, Grain Valley News