Name a way to put a basketball in a basket, and Jayson Tatum probably did it Friday night.
There was a Eurostep in transition, a contested two-handed dunk, a turnaround fadeaway from the baseline, a stepback jumper from the wing, a fast-break finger roll, an up-and-under lean-in from the paint and a pull-up three-pointer at the buzzer.
And that was just the first half.
Tatum scored 39 points, grabbed 14 rebounds, made all 12 of his free-throw attempts — many of those while clinging to a close lead in crunch time — and led Chaminade (Mo.) to an 88-81 victory over nationally ranked Stevenson (Ill.) at the Cancer Research Classic. He was an efficient 13-for-20 from the field.
Walter Cornett, of Glendale, Kentucky, is the owner and operator of Walter's Wildcat World. He founded WildcatWorld.com in 1998 making it one of the oldest Kentucky basketball fan sites in operation today.