EAST ST. LOUIS – The news did not come as a surprise to East St. Louis Senior High School on Wednesday.
It just confirmed what many already knew.
The Flyers’ boys basketball team debuted at number one in IHSA Class 3A in the season’s first Associated Press rankings released on Wednesday, January 7.
Kankakee, a typical postseason football rival for the Flyers, came in ranked number two, and Decatur MacArthur came in third. East Side already has a win this season over Chicago Hyde Park, who are ranked sixth.
With a 14-1 record overall and a 4-0 mark in the Southwestern Conference, East Side has been riding high thus far.
“14-1, I’m proud of these guys,” Flyers’ head coach Mark Chambers said after an 87-84 home win over Alton on Tuesday, January 6. “They’re battling, they’re getting better. I’m really excited for the future of this group.”
East St. Louis lost its season opener in Texas to nationally ranked North Crowley High School out of Fort Worth. It has since rattled off 14 straight wins, including conference wins over Edwardsville, O’Fallon, Belleville East, and Alton.
The Flyers host Belleville West on Friday, January 9, before taking part in the much-anticipated Highland Shootout on Saturday. They’ve earned themselves a primetime slot in arguably one of the best matchups of the day against defending Missouri Class 3 state champs Principia (10-1) at 6 p.m.
Despite their success, only one starter from last season’s 15-17 team returns for East Side. That’s senior Alex Johnson, who currently leads the team in scoring with 284 points, averaging just under 19 points per game.
The other four starters all transferred into East St. Louis.
The most notable pickup is Jamison White, a Penn State recruit from Chaminade. Last season, he played in 26 games for the Red Devils and led them in scoring with 382 points. Chaminade finished the year at 20-12 and was runner-up at the Missouri Class 6 state tournament.
Devin Houston also entered from a college prep school in St. Louis, transferring from CBC. He averaged just over 22 points per game last season for the Cadets. Two more transfers, juniors Terri’yon Webster from McCluer and Phillip Jones from University City, round out the starting five right now for East Side.
The Flyers have had no problem scoring the basketball, averaging just over 75 points per night. They’ve put up 80-plus points in six of their last seven games, scoring a season-high 91 points against Lift for Life back on January 2.
East Side has won seven straight regional titles under Chambers and will be seeking a third sectional title during that tenure. The team placed third in the IHSA Class 3A state tournament in 2023 and won it all in 2019.
