As the members of the St. James boys basketball team ran out onto the court for the championship game of the 47th annual Hermann Invitational, they were met with an uncommon sight.

Having just left the locker room after his team’s loss in the third-place game, Warrenton senior guard Jay Sanders acted as the unofficial hype man for the top-seeded Tigers.

“C’mon, boys, you’ve got this,” Sanders said. “You guys play great ball, you deserve this.”

Sanders greeted each player and coach individually with an affirmation before they took the floor.

“It’s your night, go get it,” he finished in addressing St. James Coach Ben Smith, who closed up the Tigers' ranks.

What could be seen as a strange occurrence in this day and age was something Sanders was all about.

“Hey, they came out and played a better game than we did,” he said. “They’re a really good team. They deserve the respect.”

Sanders didn’t do what he did or say what he said to the eventual tournament winners out of anything other than his genuine positivity, Warrenton senior guard Deadrick Forrest said.

It’s that positivity that has helped buoy the Warriors' spirits through a less-than-ideal 7-12 record through the end of the tournament.

Forrest said that Sanders’ efforts for the team go largely unsung.

“Jay is the most important part of this team, but nobody would understand that,” Forrest said. “He will, literally, do anything for this team. He’s one of the best teammates I’ve ever had, honestly. One of the reasons I like him so much is that you never see this dude in a bad mood. He’s always happy, and if you need (to be uplifted), he’s the guy to go to. I love him.”

That admiration is mutual, Sanders said.

Sanders, who is 5-foot-11, also played wide receiver and linebacker for the football team, had to work his way into his current role with the basketball team as a top defensive stopper and offensive complement to the team’s big guns.

Warrenton basketball coach Mark Thomas said that Sanders turned an otherwise tough situation into an advantageous one for both him and his team.

“He is one of the most resilient kids that we’ve ever had in the program,” Thomas said. “He’s a kid that we asked to play junior varsity last year, as a junior, to work on things. As a senior, he’s one of our best defenders, he’s always in the right spots and he talks. He is a high-energy guy for us all the time. He’s a high-character kid. He understood where he was at, skill-wise, and he worked hard to get better.” 

That high-energy aspect to who he is fills Sanders with the utmost pride, he said.

While an assist with the basketball can have its benefits in the short term, assisting someone with their well-being is something Sanders would rather be known for, he said.

“Sometimes, my guys hang their heads and let it (adversity) get the best of them,” Sanders said. “I want to make sure their heads are held high and that they have somebody to talk to because nobody wants to feel like they’re alone and that they have to be quiet. Everybody wants to contribute.”