I’ll be the first to tell you that high school all-star games aren’t the best places to assess a player’s talent. But at the end of the second and third quarters of Saturday night’s Demetirous Johnson All-Star Game at Harris-Stowe, SLU recruit Kwamain Mitchell did something worth noting.

With the clock running down and Mitchell’s team waiting for the last shot, Mitchell dribbled down the clock, bided his time, then drove to the basket and scored. On the list of things SLU has had trouble doing in the past few years, it’s been scoring at the end of the game when working for the last shot. A lot of times, SLU hasn’t even been able to get off a shot. Twice on Saturday night, Mitchell did it. If he can do that in games for SLU, it will be a welcome sight for fans.

Mitchell had four points as the national team beat the local team 128-121. Among other SLU recruits, Femi John had 15 points (at least by my count). Willie Reed, who played only eight games in his high school season before transferring at midseason and having to sit out the rest of the year, had four points.

Reed admitted afterward the transfer has kept him from playing a lot of games and that his conditioning is off. He was a lot skinnier than the two players who guarded him much of the night. Reed has an athletic game so they won’t want him bulking up, but he’s going to need to put on some weight or he’s get shoved around an awful lot. (He’s also going to benefit from a guard like Mitchell who get him the ball in position to score.) And despite the transfer and the semester spent at Milestone Academy, he said he will be eligible this season.

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The SLU nonconference schedule is still in the works. Among the games still uncertain is the opener, assuming you don’t count the exhibition with Harris-Stowe as the first basketball game at Chaifetz. The Boston College game is not the opener.

There isn’t much defense played in these games, but the end of the quarter is the only time you see a team have to play half-court defense.

 (FIXES OBVIOUS AND SILLY TYPO)