High school basketball: Gideon, Clarkton prepare for Current River Challenge

VAN BUREN — The Current River Challenge is one of the most storied Thanksgiving weekend high school basketball events in Missouri.

This year, two Bootheel schools are set to participate with both Gideon and Clarkton taking on host Van Buren on Friday and Saturday, respectively.

“It’s a great event that Van Buren puts on every year,” Clarkton head coach Cole McBroom said.

Clarkton's boys basketball team is coming off a successful season, which included a district championship. (Submitted graphic from the Clarkton School District)

McBroom applauded Van Buren head boys basketball coach Jacob Black for assembling competitive games on a yearly basis.

“He gets teams from different areas together to play,” McBroom added. This will be the Reindeer’s first trip to the Current River Challenge since 2018-19.

Clarkton is coming off a 17-13 season in 2022-23, which included winning the Class 1 District 1 championship on Feb. 24, 2023, over Delta C-7. The Reindeer have two seniors in Amauri Gorman and Talan Jones.

Meanwhile, Class 2 Van Buren was 9-15 — including a 53-47 win over Gideon in last year’s Current River Challenge.

“Van Buren will be a really quality opponent that will help us prepare for games in later months,” McBroom explained.

Expect the Bulldogs to play intense man-to-man pressure defense. Van Buren wants to push the tempo, and would rather play a game in which both teams score in the 60s, McBroom stated.

McBroom also experienced the Current River Challenge as a player, having played in the event when he was a student-athlete at Twin Rivers.

Keenan Buchanan returns to the sidelines to coach Gideon this season, his first since the mid-2010s. Buchanan replaces Jeremy Walker, who now serves as an assistant coach in his hometown of Bernie.

“We started playing in it in 2014,” Buchanan said. “We’ll get to play tough competiton in Van Buren. We have a good time going up there, and Van Buren has always been good to us.”

Buchanan said Gideon makes “a day out of it,” complete with a team meal. He said it’s a good team-bonding experience for the boys.

Gideon had a rough 2022-23 campaign with just three wins, and Buchanan said he will use the Van Buren game as a gauge.

“It will be an opportunity to see where we’re at (in the first game of the season),” the coach commented. “We’re excited, and ready to get the season started.”

The Bulldogs will be relying on underclassmen, with just two seniors listed on the roster in Alexander DeProw and Skylar Hewitt.

Buchanan reported the seeding meeting for the forthcoming Gideon Bulldog Classic is set for Wednesday, Nov. 15.

The bracket for that tournament will be distributed after the meeting occurs.

MORE HOOPS

There will be three jamborees next week in The Bootheel, with Southland having a three-team event set for Tuesday, Nov. 14, in Cardwell.

Kennett will serve as the site for a girls basketball jamboree while Campbell will have a boys’ jamboree on Thursday, Nov. 16.

Also the weekend of Thanksgiving, New Madrid County Central will serve as host of the Riverbend Shootout featuring Campbell and Portageville boys and North Pemiscot girls.