Sagemont (Ga.) guards steal show in win over St. Francis (Fla.)

St. Francis (Fla.) has what’s considered one of the top backcourts in the country, with heavily recruited junior point guard Kobi Simmons and senior shooting guard Malik Beasley, who has signed with Florida State.

That’s what made the afternoon Sagemont (Ga.) guards Keyshawn Evans and Prince Ali had against them at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center all the more impressive.

Evans, a 5-foot-11 point guard and Illinois State signee, had game highs with 23 points and five assists and hit 5 of 11 treys and 6 of 7 free throws. Ali, a 6-5 shooting guard who has signed with UCLA, poured in 20 points on 9-of-15 shooting and added five rebounds and two assists in a 72-50 win in the opening round of the Beach Ball Classic.

“Everybody’s telling me how good my backcourt is, my backcourt everybody says is the best in America. They must be the best in the world,” St. Francis coach Drew Catlett said. “Those two guards killed us. We couldn’t guard them.”

The teams were state champions in their respective states and have a handful of Division I prospects each, so the matchup was anticipated as possibly the best in the opening round.

But after holding a modest three-point lead at halftime, Sagemont broke the game open early in the second half.

Evans had a pair of early 3-pointers and AJ Jurko added one in a 15-4 run to open the second half. St. Francis (10-3) got no closer than 12 the remainder of the game.

Sagemont (10-2) went 33-0 last year and began the season 9-0 before losing its last two games against fellow Florida teams prior to the Beach Ball.

“We just wanted to come out and play hard,” Ali said. “We took two tough losses last week to teams we shouldn’t have lost to, so we wanted to come out and play the best we could play. I’m not surprised. I know what we’re capable of.”

St. Francis is ranked 20th in the MaxPreps Xcellent 25, and with 6-7 senior swingman and Xavier commitment Kaiser Gates and 6-9 senior center and Coastal Carolina signee Josh Coleman, the Knights are formidable at all levels.

“It’s nice to show up at an event like the Beach Ball, a big national event, against a nationally-ranked team and play really well,” Lions coach Adam Ross said. “It feels good. I’m happy for our guys and proud of our guys, they played really hard.”

Sagemont won the rebounding margin by just one, 28-27, but “that was the key to the game for us,” Dunn said. “They were much bigger than us and they’re very athletic and a very good rebounding team, but our guys scrapped and fought and a couple bounces off the rim came our way, too.

“… Everything worked out well for us. We shot the ball well, we played well offensively, ran our offense and played good defense.”

Beasley had a team-high 17 points on 7-of-12 shooting, Simmons had 12 points and four assists, and Gates had 12 points and six rebounds.

“They’re just better than us. They beat us in every phase of the game,” Catlett said. “They had more energy. They beat us off the dribble and we couldn’t guard them, couldn’t move our feet. We just didn’t play well. We didn’t have the energy and you’ve got to create your own energy.”

With a tough first-round opponent dispatched, Sagemont moves onto Knott County Central (Ky.) in the quarterfinals. “I think we have a chance to win if we keep playing hard, keep defending, keep moving the ball, I think we have a great chance to win this tournament,” Ali said.

This story was originally published December 27, 2014 at 9:58 PM with the headline "Sagemont (Ga.) guards steal show in win over St. Francis (Fla.)."