Tigers claim high school crown in Cape's first MAYB tournament

The local event attracted 33 teams.

By Marty Mishow ~ Southeast Missourian

Teams came from throughout the region -- including St. Louis, southern Illinois and western Kentucky -- to participate over the weekend in Cape Girardeau's first Mid America Youth Basketball tournament.

But the two finalists in the high school boys division only had to travel across town to battle for the championship Sunday morning at the A.C. Brase Arena.

The Cape Girardeau Tigers, consisting of players from Central High School, defeated the Cape Girardeau Bulldogs, comprised of players from Notre Dame High School, 41-30. That avenged a loss by the Tigers to the Bulldogs during Saturday's pool play portion of the four-team division.

"It's always a good rivalry when kids from Central play kids from Notre Dame in anything," Central coach Derek McCord said. "And it's always nice to beat them, especially after they won the day before."

But regardless of the outcome, McCord and Notre Dame coach Paul Hale -- about to enter his first year at the school after previously being the longtime coach at Dexter and then getting out of the business for a few years -- both felt like winners simply because their players all got to experience five more games of summer play over the weekend.

"We're so young, the more we can play really helps us," McCord said. "We've played more than 30 games this summer. We've had a good turnout.

"This tournament was great for the kids because they're getting better. And it's great for the local economy."

Hale said his Bulldogs have gotten in about 20 games this summer. Like high school programs across the state, the Tigers and Bulldogs have competed in summer team camps and leagues, in addition to the weekend MAYB tournament.

"We've improved a whole bunch. When we started out we weren't very good, but we've gotten a whole lot better," Hale said. "We didn't play real well today, but we played pretty good the whole tournament.

"This summer has been especially important for me because I'm new to Notre Dame and the kids. I'm finding out what we can and can't do. Overall, we've had a good summer."

In the championship game, Scott Chestnutt led the Tigers with 13 points and Eli Harris had 10. The game featured two 20-minute halves and a running clock for all but the final minute of each half. For Notre Dame, Bryce Willen put in 10 points and Alex Ressel added nine.

The Tigers and Bulldogs were two of 33 teams that participated in the tournament sponsored by Heartland Pride Sports, a non-profit organization founded in 2003 to help youngsters get involved in sports programs. There were six divisions, four for boys and two for girls.

Several other local squads also fared well, including Central's 9th-10th grade boys also beating Notre Dame in the finals.

Other division winners were the SEMO Sparks, based in Cape Girardeau, in 7th-8th grade girls; the Southeast Dream Team, from Morley, Mo., in 6th grade boys; the Mineral Area Magic in 7th-8th grade boys; and St. Louis Catholic Academy in 5th-6th grade girls.

Placing second from the area were the Cape Challengers (7th-8th boys) and the SEMO Hot Shots from Cape (5th-6th girls).

Darrin Pruitt, director of Heartland Pride Sports, said he thought the event went well and his organization plans to put on four more tournaments in Cape Girardeau within the next year -- in December, April, June and July.

Sixty teams had hoped to participate but the field was limited to 33 teams because of a lack of available courts. Play was held at the A.C. Brase Aren a, the Osage Community Centre and Central Middle School.

"We received many comments on how well it went," Pruitt said. "Hopefully we can get some more buildings next time and actually host the 60 teams who wanted to play in the tournament."