Words can't express what a weekend it was...
But words is all I have ... so ...
Let's talk some basketball.
I know just where to begin...
Man, we needed some big wins for our area.
Well, our ship came in this weekend.
Cavaliers defeat the No. 3 ranked team in Kansas ... and then beats Colgan to take home the title!
Thomas Jefferson, led by Jay Powell's five 3-pointers, turned back Galena (No. 3 team in Kansas 3A) 64-47 on Thursday night in the semifinals of the Tony Dubray Classic. The Cavaliers came back Saturday night to defeat perennial power St. Mary's Colgan 58-40 for the title of the Liberal High School hosted tournament.
The Cavaliers didn't just merely win, Thomas Jefferson won its three games by 53, 17 and 18 points. The Cavaliers were ahead 41-14 at halftime against No. 3 Galena. Wow!!! Corner Player of the Year candidate Jordan Stauffer took home tournament MVP honors while, Super sophomore Alex Oserowsky joined Stauffer on the All-Tournament team. Congrats to the Cavaliers for bringing the championship trophy home to The Corner.
Neosho takes out state power Mount Vernon on Homecoming night!
The Wildcats were dancing long before the DJ started spinning records ... no wait, sorry wrong decade ... syncing their MP3s with a "preapproved" list of songs (BTW, don't you miss records? Those things were awesome).
A little heart-broken after the Joplin loss on Tuesday, Coach Ben Ponce and the boys bounced back in grand fashion taking out Class 3 power Mount Vernon 53-45, who, for no apparent reason, dropped out of the Class 3 rankings a few days earlier. Corey Crandell, Alex Wise and Micheal Lowe were up to their usual antics on Friday night.
Hmmm ... Corey, Alex and Micheal? Sounds like the making of a good boy band doesn't it? "Da 'Sho Boys" or "Meow Mix"... wait that's already been taken ... okay, okay how 'bout
Huge win boys, huge win. Not much time to celebrate, however, as Neosho hosts Parkview (No. 4 team in SWMO and rising). Parkview dismantled Kickapoo on Friday night to move to 13-2. That's gonna be a good one today.
Diamond takes the Blue Division of the NEO tournament!
We like out-of-area wins. Well Diamond got three of them at the NEO Tournament in Miami, Okla. Diamond defeated a 13-3 Watt squad in the semifinals, before beating Afton, Okla., squad 49-35 to take the Blue Division Championship. Congrats to Diamond for coming up big in Oklahoma.
CJ pulls the upset of Corner No. 3 ranked Seneca.
Carl Junction (7-10) continued the theme of "bad host" at its Bulldog Classic on Saturday night. The Bulldogs rode a (scorching) hot-shooting first half (13-for-17) to a 45-43 victory over the 12-4 Seneca Indians. Junior Jake McClarnon had 15 points and 5 rebounds to lead Carl Junction to a second-place finish. Jake Stevenson added 12 points for the Bulldogs. Stevenson was joined on the All-Tournament team by teammate Jansen Adams who had 29 rebounds in the three-day tourney. Toby Roelfsema and Stryker Harris made All-Tournament for Seneca.
By the way, Parsons (Kan.) took first place in robin-robin classic with a 3-0 record. Tevin Johnson and James Jackson were All-Tournament as well with Jackson claiming MVP honors.
Webb City gets a nice victory over Lincoln Prep (Kansas City) 68-64.
Out-of-area wins are always a good thing. Scott Roderique has asserted himself as a go-to-guy for Webb City. Check this line: Scott had 23 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals. He was 8 of 11 from the field and 7 of 10 from the free-throw line. The Cardinals (9-10) defeated Lincoln (7-7) on Thursday night of the Cardinal Classic.
Corner No. 1 Joplin takes second place at Chanute tourney.
Joplin (13-3) probably wasn't all too happy to see another second place trophy (they took second at the Carthage Invitation and Kaminsky Classic), but the Eagles picked up two victories in the Chanute, Kan., tournament before losing to a hot-shooting Goddard (Kan.) in the finals. The Eagles were led by Derek Stokes' 26 points. Stokes and Matt McCreary were named to the all-tournament team.
Also...
Carthage gets win over Aurora. Keith Lawrie pumped in 25 points to lead Carthage to victory.
Sarcoxie defeats College Heights for third place. Sarcoxie got balanced scoring to upend CHC 59-51 to finish third in its tournament. Sarcoxie leading scorers had 12, 10, nine and eight points. Bro Mbuthia scored 24 for CHC, while Evan Belk had seven points and 5 assists for the Cougars.
Jasper defeated Golden City 48-42 in the Tony Dubray Classic over the weekend.
No Boys Allowed (The Girls' Corner)
Ryan Parsons has led McDonald County to an 11-6 record on the season thus far. The girls took fourth place at the Jay Tri-State Classic (Okla.). McDonald County went on an eight-game winning streak that was snapped in the tourney. Keep up the good work, ladies!!!
The future is now for Elli Gore (East Newton). The Patriots do-it-all freshman is playing the point, but she could play any position on the court. Ellie has a legitimate shot to play some serious college basketball. She is a knock-down 3-point shooter who combines that with a beautiful mid-range game and an ability to finish inside. Scary thing is, again, she's just a freshman.
35! That's the number Joplin's Jessie McMullen put up on Waynesville. The Junior scored 35 points in a 63-49 victory over Waynesville. Nice!!!
Congrats to the Webb City Lady Cardinals for bringing National Attention to The Corner. The Class 4 No. 1 Lady Cardinals have moved up to No. 31 on EPSN Rise's girls high school basketball rankings after victories over nationally ranked Midwest City (Okla.) and Class 5 St. Joseph's — No. 31 in the country, huh? That's pretty cool, Lady Cards.
Buzzer Beater from The Corner:
Dreams.
We all have 'em.
And even though existing holiday tournaments and scheduling issues might make this difficult, here's one of my dreams: The Corner Tournament!
All 14 teams!
Play it at Missouri Southern. Four-day tournament. Use both gyms. Local businesses step up to sponsor it, so it cost the schools nothing. Proceeds (gate, concessions, etc...) evenly divided between all 14 schools. Get sponsor to host each school, honorary coaches, etc...
Top two seeds get first round byes.
How big would that be? I think it'd be awesome. Awesome!!!
The excitement, the crowds, the pride...
Games that mean something!!!
We need rivalries, we need bragging rights games...
I grew up playing in a tournament like this back in NC ... I couldn't wait for it to come around each year. It was almost as prestigious for us as a state title. It's like the New York City public high school league. Those kids value winning New York City above anything in basketball. Here's why: Because they love basketball and they see those kids at rival schools all the time. It means something to those kids!
Well, I want basketball in The Corner to mean something ... I don't want it to just be the time in between football and baseball!
This could greatly improve the landscape of basketball in our area ... for the better!
I know, I know ... you already have many of the teams on your schedule ... well it may not be easy but let's adjust some schedules!
And I know there are so many tournaments already ... well let's work together, sacrifice a little ... for our kid's sake.
And yes, some games might pit big against small schools ... when has that ever been a bad thing? You ever watch "March Madness"?!?
I would love to fill out my Corner tourney bracket. Upsets are great for sports.
Think about it ... save on travel ... high on excitement ... and we're doing it in our area, for our area ... the kids would love it
Well?
Anybody?
(sigh)
Well, a guy can dream...
Isaac Edwards is an online sports columnist for Gatehouse News Service, specializing in local basketball.
