Ben McLemore attended the final prom in Eskridge High School history on Friday night in his hometown of St. Louis.

“Happy,” is the way the 6-foot-5, 185-pound junior described one of the last functions he’ll have with his classmates, who because of the school’s imminent closing, will move over to St. Louis Normandy High for the 2010-11 school year.

“The state is taking over our school. I guess we’ve got to merge,” McLemore said.

The blue-chip basketball prospect — who showed no signs of fatigue Saturday after awakening at 6 a.m. and driving to Lawrence for the second day of the Jayhawk Invitational — won’t be following his pals over to Normandy.

St. Louis Eagles guard ben mclemore dunks over a defender. McLemore, a high school junior who is considering KU, scored 20 points in the Eagles’ 94-56 rout at the Jayhawk Invitational on Saturday at Coffin Complex.

The shooting guard, who hit for 20 points off 7-of-14 shooting in the St. Louis Eagles’ 94-56 rout of Recruits at Haskell’s Coffin Complex, instead will spend his senior year at Oak Hill Academy in Mouth of Wilson, Va.

McLemore, who lists Kansas University as his current leader (in recruiting) over Missouri, Illinois, Arkansas, Kansas State, Purdue, Tennessee and many other schools, figures to fit in nicely at coach Steve Smith’s Oak Hill hoops powerhouse.

“He’s explosive. He can take the game inside and outside, block shots, do it all basically,” said St. Louis Eagles teammate Brad Beal, a 6-3 junior from St. Louis Chaminade High who has committed to Florida.

Beal in the second half lobbed a pass for McLemore to catch and finish. Earlier, McLemore had a steal and vicious windmill slam.

“You can throw it out of the gym, and he’d go get it,” Beal said of McLemore, who also showed a nice touch of a deep three and swished five free throws in six tries. “Basically just throw it toward the hoop, and he’ll go get it.”

The soft-spoken McLemore listed “shooting” as his strong point, indicating, “I can work on a lot of things (before beginning college career).”

While indicating he’s still wide open on schools, he says KU leads for a reason.

“I went to one of their games (Memphis game last November in St. Louis). I saw them play. I like the intensity they have on defense and offense. The way they play, they get the crowd involved. That’s how I like to play.”

The Eagles exhibited a roster loaded with talent.

Roosevelt Jones, a 6-3 junior from O’Fallon (Ill.) High School who is headed to Butler University, had 12 points in a rout in which 10 Eagles scored.

Beal, who said his knee was bothering him a bit, believe it or not, took just one shot and failed to score.

“‘Rose’ is smooth,” Beal said of Jones. “I can rely on him getting a rebound over any big guy in the country. He’s really good around the basket. He can take anybody off the dribble and is our best defender. Butler got a good kid.”

This, that: Perry Ellis, a 6-8 sophomore forward from Wichita Heights, combined for 36 points and 17 rebounds in two pool play games Saturday. His Pray and Play Players went 1-1. … Shabazz Muhammad, 6-5 from Bishop Gorman High in Las Vegas, who had 31 points in Dream Vision’s victory over Pray and Play Players on Friday night, hit for an identical 31 in a loss to Minnesota Fury Blue on Saturday. … Kansas City Pump N Run received 15 points from SM Northwest junior A.J. Spencer in a 71-25 rout of Thunder Ridge. Coach L.J. Goolsby’s team has won four of the last five Jayhawk Invitationals. … Guard Jahii Carson, 5-10 junior from Mesa, Ariz., and a good buddy of KU signee Royce Woolridge, had 20 points in the Compton Magic’s 98-77 win over G&H Impact. Carson, who has a batch of Pac-10 schools as well as Boston College, Seton Hall, Villanova, West Virginia, Michigan State and Oklahoma on his his early list, said he’d welcome any contact from Kansas. … Isaiah Austin, 7-foot sophomore from Grace Prep High in Arlington, Texas, had 11 points and four blocks for Compton. He said it’s too early to have a list of schools, but does like KU because “it’s close to home.” … Branden Dawson, 6-6, junior from Wallace High in Gary, Ind., exploded for 26 points in the SYF Players’ 81-63 win over SW Minnesota Stars. He lists Purdue, Indiana, Georgetown, UCLA, Marquette, Michigan State and others. … Today’s 17 and under final is slated for 3:30 p.m., at Haskell, following 15 and under and 16 and under finals to start at 1 p.m. and 2:15. Games today will determine the teams in the finals.