The McCluer North basketball team has hit a major speed bump on the road to defending its Missouri Class 5 championship in March.

Senior shooting guard Femi John, a St. Louis University signee, is likely out for six weeks after breaking his left wrist on Wednesday against Beaumont. And senior forward Anthony Booker, who signed with Southern Illinois University Carbondale, will miss games after spraining his ankle on Monday against Gateway Tech. 

“I stole the ball from this dude and was going for a dunk,” John said on Friday. “He ran under me and took my legs out from under me. I tried to break my fall and broke my wrist.”

John, who was leading the Stars with his 18.2 points per game average, didn’t know he broke his wrist at first. He actually came back into the game and made a 3-pointer before the pain became too much to deal with. Now he’s hoping to be back in time for the state quarterfinals.

Booker, a 6-foot-8 forward, hurt his ankle on Monday and missed Wednesday’s game against Beaumont.

Without John and Booker, senior guard Torres Roundtree, another Southern Illinois signee, will need to step up his game to lead the Stars back to the playoffs. Roundtree was the Post-Dispatch player of the year a year ago after leading McCluer North to its first state championship.