CREVE COEUR • Chaminade sophomore Jayson Tatum found himself in foreign territory on Saturday night.
For the first time in his career, the 6-foot-8-inch standout was having trouble making a basket.
Yes, one of the top high school players in the entire country, who averages 27 points per game, simply couldn't buy a bucket.
"Things just weren't falling for me," he said.
The early adversity served as a lesson to the multi-talented Tatum, who bounced back to score 27 points and help the top-seeded Red Devils to a 75-54 win over Bayless in the championship game of the 43th annual Chaminade Christmas Tournament.
Chaminade (8-1) claimed its fifth title in the last seven years and a tournament-record 18th overall.
Tatum, who is being recruited by almost every top-notch NCAA Division I school in the nation, hit on 7 of 16 shots and also grabbed 13 rebounds.
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Senior Grant Hollander added 14 points for the winners. Garrett Roberts chipped in with 10 points.
Excell Harris paced the third-seeded Broncos (7-1) with 15 points. Patrick Triplett added 14 points.
Tatum missed his first five shots and did not score until 2:54 into the second period. It was the first scoreless opening quarter of his career.
"He wants to win like everybody else and he came out pushing a little too much," Chaminade coach Frank Bennett said. "He just needed to relax and let the game come to him."
Bennett took Tatum out of the contest for a 45-second stretch after Tatum scored his first points of the night on a steal and slam dunk. The jumping-jack was whistled for hanging on the rim and Bennett felt his standout needed a short breather.
"He just said that I needed to fight through the adversity," Tatum recalled. "He told me that things like this make me a better player."
It sure did on Saturday night.
Tatum returned and scored nine points over the final 4:43 of the half to stake his club to a 30-27 lead. His long 3-pointer with 51 seconds left pushed the lead to 30-25.
"I settled down, got into a rhythm," Tatum said.
The Red Devils used a 10-0 run at the outset of the second half to take control 40-27. Hollander got the ball rolling with a stick-back basket and Tatum drilled a trey to increase the lead to 35-27. Roberts then scored from close range before Tyler Cook converted on the offensive glass.
Bayless battled back to within seven points on a short jumper by Munir Hirkic, but the Red Devils closed the period with seven unanswered points for a 53-37 lead.
Tatum and freshman Reggie Crawford led the spurt.
Bayless capitalized on Tatum's early woes to bolt out to an 18-10 cushion. Harris and Triplett keyed the run with a pair of quick scores.
The Broncos parlayed a strong defensive start into the early lead.
"Most of the first half we did exactly what we wanted," Bayless coach Pat Triplett said. "Then we started making some mistakes."
Chaminade took the lead for good 21-19 on a nifty spin move by Cook. The Red Devils came out of the break on fire and never looked back.
"We just got back to playing our style of basketball," Bennett said. "Bayless came out tough, knocked down a few shots and you could tell they wanted it more than we did. At half, we talked about playing tough and unselfish and that's what we did."
Tatum finished the three-day tournament with 77 points and 31 rebounds.
"He's got some amazing God-given talent," Bennett said. "And he knows what to do with it."