The field at the 42nd Annual Southwest Boys Holiday Tournament is as competitive as ever, with last year’s champion retaining the No. 1 seed and two Barry County schools looking to dethrone the title-holder.
East Newton, who defeated Southwest for the 2023 trophy, 44-36, took the No. 1 seed this year and will face No. 8 Commerce (Okla.) in tournament-opening action at 4 p.m. Friday.
No. 4 Southwest will then face No. 5 McAuley at 5:30 p.m.; No. 2 Purdy will battle No. 7 Gentry (Ark.), at 7 p.m.; and No. 3 Monett will take on No. 6 Diamond at 8:30 p.m.
Jeff Treat, Southwest boys basketball coach in his first season, said the Trojans are amped up as always for the chance to play three games in front of home fans.
“We always love to play at home, and I think we play a lot better at home,” he said. “We have one of the best student sections in the area, and I hope they show up the same during Christmas break for us.
“It’s my first time coaching at this tournament, and we’re all very excited for it.”
Treat said the Trojans are 3-5 this season, but that record could be flipped just as easily.
“We’ve blown a couple fourth-quarter leads, and
BOYS HOOPS
What: 42nd Annual Southwest Boys Holiday Tournament Who: Southwest, Purdy Games: Start Friday, championship on Monday we’re a young, inexperienced group,” he said. “We are all still learning about ourselves in this first year.
“We have to compete in the first couple games. We have a chance to win the whole thing, but it will be tough. If we compete and give a good show, I think that would make us successful.”
To find a little holiday something in their coach’s namesake, the Trojans have to continue playing their high-powered offense while improving defensively.
“We are really working on defense,” Treat said. “We are scoring the ball pretty well, averaging 58 points per game, but we’re trying to find our identity on defense. That will help us be successful.
“Kasen Holder is also averaging 22.4 points per game, so we’re looking for some consistency like that from a second scorer. If we find that, it will get some eyes off Kasen and we’ll be harder to guard.”
Brad Stewart, Purdy boys basketball coach in his first season and coaching at Southwest’s tournament for the first time, said he’s not sure seeds make a huge difference in the grand scheme.
“I think the tournament is wide open and seeding doesn’t mean much,” he said. “We played Southwest and they were beating us, but we came back at the end and beat them. You can play the who-beat-who game all day, but there are at least five or six teams that are capable of winning it, if not all eight.”
With the level of parity among opponents, Stewart said the Eagles will put a focus on what they can control.
“We’ll be looking at the level of ball we play, and the No. 1 priority is to play hard,” he said. “When we played at Pierce City [on Dec. 17], we played hard but couldn’t catch a break. We’ll also have to put a focus on handling late-game situations like we had in that one.”
Ultimately, Stewart said when playing any tournament, winning more games than losing is his benchmark.
“Normally, if you have a winning record in a tournament, you feel pretty good,” he said. “If we play three decent games and hopefully squeak out a couple wins, that would be good.
“But, are we capable of winning it — yes.
The East Newton-Commerce winner will face the winner of Southwest-McAuley in one semifinal Saturday at 7 p.m., with the Purdy-Gentry winner facing off against the Monett-Diamond winner in the other semifinal at 8:30 p.m.
The championship game is Monday at 8:30 p.m.
