As one of the veterans on a young De La Salle boys team, Charles Barnes knows he must be a leader.
That’s a role the 6-foot-5 junior forward embraces wholeheartedly.
Barnes’ leadership skills were on full display in Saturday’s third-place game of the De La Salle/St. Ignatius Windy City Turkey Classic at De La Salle.
In guiding the Meteors to a 76-70 victory over Hope, Barnes scored a team-best 23 points. He was joined in double figures by Remi Edwards (15 points), Morgan Travis (14) and Roosevelt Thomas (11).
“I grew up with all those guys,” Barnes said. “I’ve played with them since middle school. I just love to see them do well, too.”
Following the game, Barnes – who scored 88 points in the four tournament games – was asked if he thought this was his team.
“I say so,” Barnes said. “I try to lead these guys and I want to help them get better throughout the season. I want to lead by example and do all the little things on the court correctly.
“I want them to see what I’m doing and try to replicate it.”
Barnes was chosen to the All-Windy City Turkey Classic Team.
“Being honored is a great thing,” Barnes said. “This is our own tournament and it means something for me to make it.
“We had the upperclassmen who won (the award) when I was a freshman, now it’s my turn.”
Barnes played a prominent role in the Meteors securing their grasp of the lead in the fourth quarter. Barnes set up Jordan Shaw with a pass for a three-point play with 5:19 remaining that increased De La Salle’s lead to 61-52.
After the Eagles drew to within 70-68, Barnes calmly drilled two free throws with 1:41 to play, making it 72-68.
“Charles is one of the most underrated players in the state of Illinois,” De La Salle coach Gary DeCesare said. “He has a great feel for the game and he’s an old-school player.
“And Charles is hard to guard because he’s a lefty. Lefties have a little sneakiness to their game. Charles also has great footwork. He’s just a great kid and a great ambassador for De La Salle.”
Travis hit three free throws in the final 41 seconds, the last giving the Meteors a 75-70 margin with 27.1 seconds to play.
“Charles can’t do it all by himself,” DeCesare said. “Morgan and Remi are also three-year varsity players. We needed them to step up and they did.
“Carlos (Cueva) hit some shots and I know he’ll get going. I think we’ll be all right.”
Over the course of the tournament, De La Salle also defeated Jones (69-37) and King (68-48) while losing to Benet (68-47).
“With only two seniors, I’m very happy with 3-1,” DeCesare said. “I’ll take that anytime. Benet’s a great team and this is a great tournament.
“Our kids competed hard and that’s all you can ask of them. I think they did a great job of playing hard.”
St. Ignatius defeated Benet 70-62 to win the championship. Westinghouse beat Jones 58-48 for seventh place and Yorkville Christian downed King 84-64 for fifth place.
Reprinted from Palos Reporter and Southwest News-Herald. Read original article here.
