By Fred Liggett
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The week-long 50th Annual Summit Grill Shootout ended with an extra dose of excitement when the Raytown Blue Jays outlasted the Lee’s Summit West Titans 57-55 in overtime to repeat as the tournament champions. The Blue Jays, now 12-2 on the season, won the championship in 2024 with an OT win over Lee’s Summit North. The loss ended a three-game winning streak for the Titans who now stand at 5-10.
The title game started out as a back-and-forth affair as Raytown led just 12-10 after the game’s first eight minutes. At the half, the Blue Jays enjoyed a 27-18 lead over the Titans. The third quarter belonged to the Titans as they outscored Raytown 16-8 to draw within one at 35-34. The score at end of regulation was tied at 47. Tourney MVP Ramelo Smith led the winning effort for the Blue Jays with 32 points. The Titans were led in scoring by sophomore Cameron Barnes 21 points.
The event’s third place game also provided fans an extra dose of excitement on the court as tourney host Lee’s Summit Tigers overcame a late rally by Columbia Rock Bridge to win 60-55. The Tigers half time lead at 32-23 grew to a 12 point lead before the Bruins came all the way back to tie it at 51 and send the game to an extra period. Tigers’ junior center Landon Van Pelt led the winning effort with 26 points and 16 rebounds. The Tigers finish the week with a 9-5 mark on the season.
Van Pelt’s 26 points was a career high for the 6’9” junior who commented “feel honored and blessed to play on a team that wants to win.” Van Pelt only made two of eight free throws in the Tigers loss on Wednesday to Raytown, Van Pelt stated, “I couldn’t let that happen again.” Van Pelt reported to his coach, Blake Little, earlier in the day of “110 makes” as in making 110 free throws.
The last day of the tournament began with the seventh place game which saw Raytown South defeat Ruskin 60-56. The fifth place game also ended in regulation as the St Michael’s Guardians led by Jaxon Monte’s eight three’s defeated Washington and improve to 8-7 on the season.
The All-Tournament Team was named after the final game had ended. Making the five-member team was St. Michael’s Phillip Howard, Lee’s Summit’s Landon Van Pelt, LS West Cameron Barnes and Raytown’s Ramelo Smith.
