Getting ready for the big games to come

During the hour and a half between sessions of Saturday's Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament, the 7,000 seats were empty but not the court. At the east end, D.D. Johnson and Tyler Qualls cut, drove the basket and pulled up for jumpers as if getting ready for a game in the Show Me Center.

In a few years, 14-year-old D.D. and 12-year-old Tyler probably will be.

Empty seats or not, shooting baskets in a big-time arena is every young basketball player's dream, and they were living it.

The tournament, which draws teams and fans from all over Southeast Missouri, continues with its semifinal round today.

Getting access to the Show Me Center basketball court means you probably know someone on the inside. D.D.'s uncle is Frank Ellis, the tournament announcer. Tyler's father, Bruce, is the assistant tournament director.

D.D. has another reason to be at the Christmas tournament. His cousin, Bell City High School star Dominitrix Johnson, is one of the best players in the field. His older brother, Desmond, is a former Scott County Central player.

D.D. has been playing basketball since he was in the second grade. He says his uncles, Paul and Buck Johnson, taught him the fundamentals. Dominitrix showed him "how to create my own space." Bell City coach David Heeb taught him how to shoot. But D.D. prefers defense to offense.

"You've got to get the ball first," he said.

D.D., the son of Lester and Pam Johnson of Haywood City, Mo., plays basketball on a Bell City grade school team but will be a freshman at the high school next year. He plans to play for the team and dreams of going on to the University of Arizona, where his hero, the Sacramento Kings' Mike Bibby, starred.

Tyler actually prefers baseball to basketball. He is a catcher on the SEMO Smash baseball team and last year played on a team that qualified for the U.S. Sports Specialties Association World Series. He also plays on a Chaffee recreation league traveling basketball team and has both a basketball goal and a batting cage in his yard.

"He's kind of a gym rat," said his father, Bruce, a former coach in the Chaffee schools who also runs the clock for Southeast Missouri State University basketball games. "He has been around it as long as he could walk."

Bruce teaches physical education in the Chaffee schools. Tyler's mother, Chris, is a counselor at the Scott City Middle School.

Tyler dreams more about baseball than basketball these days. He is a fan of Cardinals catcher Mike Matheny. At 5 feet 3 inches, Tyler is a deft shooter but can't yet heave the ball all the way to the basket from midcourt, the shot he tries as his pass to the Show Me Center court is expiring.

He hasn't ruled out trying to help the Red Devils improve this year's No. 16 seeding in a few more years. "I might think about playing," he said.

Tyler will attend the rest of the tournament even though Chaffee has been eliminated. "I like seeing what the teams can do," he said.

sblackwell@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182