Boys Basketball: Glenbard West to play Sierra Canyon Feb. 5 at Wintrust

Glenbard West's Caden Pierce (3) does a reverse layup in front of Whitney Young's Marcus Pigram (4) during a game on Jan. 22, 2022 at Benet Academy in Lisle.

Glenbard West, fresh off its biggest win of the season, apparently is about to play under a national spotlight.

The Class 4A No. 1-ranked Hilltoppers will play California school Sierra Canyon – a team that features the son of NBA star LeBron James – in a game Feb. 5 at Wintrust Arena, according to a tweet Monday from the president of Paragon Marketing Group.

The game is slated for an 8 p.m. tip, preceded by a 6 p.m. game between Glenbrook South and Curie. Both games are to be streamed on ESPN+.

Glenbard West (22-0), ranked No. 1 in Class 4A since the preseason, on Saturday beat fifth-ranked Young, 74-59, behind 31 points from Gonzaga recruit Braden Huff and 25 from Princeton commit Caden Pierce.

With the win, the Hilltoppers are now ranked 21st in the nation by ESPN. Sierra Canyon (19-2), from Chatsworth, California, north of Los Angeles, is ranked 11th.

Headlining Sierra Canyon is 6-foot-3 junior guard Bronny James, the son of NBA star LeBron James. Bronny James is the 52nd-ranked recruit in the Class of 2023 by 247Sports.

James is Sierra Canyon’s biggest name, but he isn’t its biggest star. That would be Amari Bailey, a 6-foot-5 combo guard and UCLA recruit rated the No. 2 player in the Class of 2022. Isaiah Elohim, a 6-foot-5 sophomore, has offers from Kansas, UCLA and Oregon.

Bailey scored 20 points and had 10 rebounds in his second game back from injury in an 81-49 win over Young at the Tournament of Champions on Jan. 14 in Springfield, Missouri.

According to a report from Michael O’Brien of the Chicago Sun-Times, Glenbard West originally was scheduled to play Kenwood and Sierra Canyon play Simeon in the game Feb. 5 at Wintrust, but that lineup fell through. The Glenbard West-Sierra Canyon matchup apparently came together over the past 48 hours. A local coach who has played Glenbard West said that he received a request for film from Sierra Canyon at 9 a.m. Sunday.

Glenbard West on Monday tweeted that it would share ticket information when available.


Joshua  Welge

Joshua Welge

I am the Sports Editor for Kendall County Newspapers, the Kane County Chronicle and Suburban Life Media, covering primarily sports in Kendall, Kane, DuPage and western Cook counties. I've been covering high school sports for 24 years. I also assist with our news coverage.