NORTH AUGUSTA, SC --- The life returned to Bradley Beal's legs Tuesday evening. After a morning session in which he had trouble elevating after an all-day flight from Germany following the FIBA World 17-and-Under Championships where he was the MVP for the gold medal-winning USA team, Beal scored 25 points while adding eight rebounds and five assists as the St. Louis Eagles held on for dear life to take a 75-69 over Mac Irvin Fire at the Nike Peach Jam.
The Eagles led by as many as 18 points in both the first and second halves and they held a 13-point lead with 4:44 to go in the game but the Mac Irvin press forced a barrage of turnovers to cut the margin to one, 70-69, with 28.9 seconds to go.
It was a must win for the Eagles, who suffered a Monday evening loss to the New York-based Metro Hawks while Beal was busy traveling to North Augusta. They go into the final game of pool play Wednesday morning with a 3-1 record, identical to Mac Irvin Fire, which suffered its first loss and the Metro Hawks. St. Louis plays Oklahoma City-based Athletes First Wednesday morning while Mac Irvin Fire will go against Louisiana Select.
With Florida prospect Sam Thompson (6-6, 190, Chicago, IL Whitney Young) taking the initial assignment to guard Beal, it looked like a classic matchup of the nation's best shooting guard (Beal) and the nation's top perimeter defender (Thompson). It took Beal five minutes to force the Mac Irvin Fire coaches to change their stragegy. The Eagles simply curled Beal off picks at the top of the key and once he turned the corner into the paint, he either scored or got fouled. Thompson picked up his second foul three minutes into the game. Two minutes later, Mac Irvin Fire switched to smaller, quicker point guards. At the eight minute mark, it was time to switch again, this time to a zone.
For the game, Beal hit 6-13 shots but was just 2-7 from the three-point line. He was 0-4 in the Tuesday morning session and missed his fifrst two threes Tuesday evening before he found the range again. Beal finished 11-12 from the foul line with all his free throws coming in the first half.
"I felt a lot better tonight than I did this morning," Beal said. "I was just too tired this morning and I didn't have any energy. I got some rest this afternoon and felt good again. We got the win and I helped so that was important to me."
Thompson finished the game with nine points. He had a chance to tie the game with two free throws with 28.9 seconds to go but made the first and missed the second.
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Beal's Tuesday night performance coupled with his MVP effort in the FIBA tournament in Germany makes another strong statement that the Florida commitment is the best player in the country regardless of position. Beal is a gifted offensive player and while he is a tremendously gifted shooter, he isn't limited to the offensive end of the court. He's a tenacious defender, a rebounder who relies on great position even though he's got serious springs in his legs, and a court-aware passer who sees the entire floor and gets the ball to open teammates.
Most recruiting services had Beal rated as one of the five or six best prospects for the class of 2011 but after his extraordinary July, you could call him the best player in the country and wouldn't get much argument from anyone who has seen him play.
Without question, Beal is the most important recruit for Billy Donovan and the Florida Gators since Mike Miller.
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