East St. Louis tops Deerfield to bring state title back to the City of Champions
For all those involved, what they experienced Saturday on a floor at the State Farm Center will be among the most defining moments of their lives.
A high school state championship game in a big arena, with introductions under a spotlight. For many, the last time they will ever be part of a real team. For most, the last time they’ll ever feel a tinge of what it’s like to be a real star.
Somebody’s memories were always going to be sweeter than the others, however, and that team was the East St. Louis Flyers.
Using their superior length and quickness, the Flyers won the Class 3A Illinois state championship game 52-46 over Deerfield.
It is the Flyers’ first state title since 2019, and it served notice that East St. Louis is still more than just a football school.
No champagne in Champaign for the Flyers — just a longer, more satisfying buzz of a state title.
“It’s amazing. These guys worked so hard to put themselves in this position,” Flyers coach Mark Chambers said. “We traveled throughout the country this year and played against some of the toughest competition. That’s why we were so resilient. Even though they made it tough on us there and gave us a run, we were able to maintain that run.”
Jamison White, son of former NBA player Jahadi White, transferred to East St. Louis after three years at Chaminade and put the Flyers over the top as a 6-foot-8 versatile big man. White scored a game-high 19 points and had 17 rebounds and three blocked shots.
It turned out to be a good decision to transfer.
“I couldn’t imagine a better way to go out,” said Jamison, who will attend Penn State in the fall. “I decided to make a change, get a fresh start. It was so great to do it with these guys.”
The Flyers (33-4) allowed 84 points in a game against Alton not too long ago but gave up only 46 against better competition here.
Did Chambers do something to get better buy-in for a more tenacious defensive mindset?
“Not really. Before that, we’d only been allowing about 46 points a game. That was just a very bad defensive game. Our goal is always to hold teams to 40-50 points, because we feel like we can score with anybody.”
White made the biggest plays in the closing minutes, including a rebound putback that gave the Flyers a 50-46 lead with about 20 seconds left. He also had a big tip-in earlier to give the Flyers a 41-37 lead. The Flyers came close to losing the lead late but always managed to stay in front.
“We don’t break,” Chambers said. “We bend sometimes but don’t break.”
The win was a touch bittersweet for White, whose brother, Jahidi, missed most of the season with concussion problems. Jahidi White is at least as big as his 6-foot-8 brother.
“It does make it kind of bittersweet,” White said. “He had a concussion in football and had another one in basketball,” White said. “But he was still on the sidelines with us. He was still a part of this team.”
The Flyers also got 14 points from Alex Johnson, and Flyers guards such as Terri’yon Webster (seven points), Philip Jones (three) and Devrice Johnson (six) were solid in handling and distributing the ball.
Deerfield was led by Jake Pollack’s 15 points, with 13 from Evan Nagler.
Asked how this team compared to the 2019 champions he coached, Chambers said they had one thing in common:
“They both loved to just play the game and they work really hard,” he said. “This is probably the hardest working team I’ve had. This team had about four guys who could score 20 points a night. We went about 8-9 deep and they really played hard for each other.”
