FLORISSANT • The top-ranked McCluer North basketball team honored its nine seniors before its Suburban North Conference showdown against visiting Hazelwood Central on Thursday night.
Then those seniors, led by Galen Brown, Jordon Granger and Byron Ray, took care of business. The Stars jumped out to a big lead early and never let up in a 79-69 victory that gives them 17 consecutive wins and sole possession of the top spot in the conference standings.
"The last thing they wanted to do was lose to them on Senior Night," North coach Randy Reed said. "So we had some added incentive. It was a big money game. I told my team there could be no excuses tonight."
The No. 1 team in the STLhighschoolsports.com large-schools rankings, McCluer North (19-1 overall, 5-0 league play) last won a league title in 2007-08. The Stars, who have not lost since Nov. 26, still have conference games remaining against Riverview Gardens and Ritenour.
"Coach just had us fired up before the game," Brown said. "We just came out pumped and we just played together. We've been playing hard man defense all week and we showed it today."
Brown finished with a game-high 21 points and six steals. Ray added 17 points, seven assists and five steals. Damian Clemons had 14 points. Granger, an Auburn signee, added 13.
Hazelwood Central (15-5, 4-1), which won the conference championship a year ago, is ranked seventh among area large schools and had won 11 straight games.
Jordan Martin led the Hawks with 20 points, nine rebounds and five blocked shots. B.J. McLaughlin had 15 points and eight rebounds and Marcus Lampley added 13 points.
"They were ready to go from the start," Central coach Josh Martin said of McCluer North. "The first four or five minutes of the first half killed us. We got down pretty big, down 11 at halftime. We won the second half by one, but we weren't ready to go out the gate. They beat us in all aspects of the game. We got out-coached, we got out-played, we got out-hustled, we got out-everything tonight."
After the visitors scored the first basket of the game, McCluer North responded with 13 straight points to seize momentum. The Stars led 24-14 after one quarter and by as many as 17 points in the second quarter before taking a 35-24 lead into halftime.
Hazelwood Central played better in the second half, but it wasn't enough. The Hawks cut the deficit to seven points late in the third quarter, but never got any closer the rest of the way.
"Our defense has been very good this year," Reed said. "... We came out and played great man-to-man defense. Things went our way tonight. Central's a great team."
