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SPRINGFIELD, Mo–The best high school boys basketball teams in the country are in Springfield this weekend.
It’s a hoops tradition in the Ozarks, mid-January’s Bass Pro Shops Tournament of Champions.
And this 41st annual tournament tipped off it’s first night with a loaded field.
Ozarks First’s Chris Pinson is standing by live at Great Southern Bank Arena with day one report.
In arguably the most loaded field ever assembled at the Bass Pro Tournament of Champions, local teams Logan-Rogersville and Kickapoo drew the toughest opening assignments.
Facing the number one and number two ranked teams in the nation.
Up first, Chase Branham and the Wildcats of Logan-Rogersville, who had the task of playing Paul VI, the top ranked team in the country.
While Branham, who’s committed to play for Indiana in 2027, is the team’s star, Sutton Shook was the Wildcats secret weapon.
He knocked down 4 of the team’s 7 three pointers in the first half as Log-Rog lead 33-29 at the midway point.
As for the second half, it was a scene out of Rocky, as Branham delivered a body blow with this 3-pointer to give him a team-high 21 points and the Wildcats a 3-point lead with 3 minutes to play.
However, Paul VI closed the game on a 9-0 run to steal the victory and survive 64-58 to advance to Saturday’s semifinals.
“I feel like that’s what it came down to is really knowing that we had nothing to lose and compete. Games like these will prepare us for the future and future games down the road a later in our season, so just having a mindset of really nothing to lose,” said Branham.
Then there was Mitch McHenry and the Kickapoo Chiefs, taking on Principia from St. Louis, the number 2 team in all the land.
Elijah Nabors was able to beat his man to score this tough bucket to cut the deficit to 23-21 but after that Principia put the pedal down and pulled away, as the defending Class 3 state champs ran away with a 70-55 victory to also advance to Friday’s semifinals.
So, with both Logan Rogersville and Kickapoo falling in tonight’s opening round, the Wildcats will play the first loser’s bracket contest tomorrow at 4:30 against Wheeler.
Once that game’s over, Kickapoo will take on the loser of St. John Bosco and Calvary Christian, the game currently going on behind me.
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