Commentary: Justice Served in Pembroke Case

Lots of people around Missouri are probably smiling today about Pembroke Hill losing its three straight basketball titles. I’m sure folks who support small, 2A high schools and had to watch future NBA players romp over their teams are not exactly upset about the fortunes of Pembroke Hill. When a school like Pembroke amasses talent like the Rush brothers, you will always have jealousy and accusations of cheating. Usually those cries are nothing more than sour grapes, but sometimes, as in this case, something really is up. And Pembroke Hill really is to blame. The Kansas City Star reports that Pembroke officials were asked why they didn’t do any checking when JaRon Rush showed up driving a shiny new Blazer during his senior year. Good question. And Pembroke has no answer. They chose to look the other way. My guess is they had a pretty good idea that JaRon couldn’t afford that car himself. But they didn’t check into it, and they let the Rush brothers play. Not all good teams are cheaters, some are just good. But in this case, Pembroke Hill got what it deserved.