Countdown to Showdown

The DAR preview of the Bloomfield Christmas Tournament and Poplar Bluff Showdown will run in the Monday, Dec. 24 edition. I'll have the brackets in the Sunday paper if you can't wait.

It's been a busy week so my Showdown preview has been put on the back-burner this winter. Always a hard thing to write since most of the teams are out of state and info on them can be hard to find with coaches sometimes hard to catch with the winter break.

Once again the field is going to be tough to predict. Sikeston will have their hands full against a Harrison, Ga. team that was at the Showdown last year. Poplar Bluff faces Raytown South. The field also includes two-time defending state champions Liberty Tech from Jackson, Tenn., Little Rock Mills and Union City, Tenn. which was also at Peters Gym last year.

Thursday's Games

Maplewood vs. Liberty Tech-Jackson, Tenn., 4 p.m.

Sikeston vs. Harrison, Ga., 5:30 p.m.

Poplar Bluff vs. Raytown South, 7 p.m.

Little Rock Mills vs. Union City, Tenn., 8:30 p.m.

Here's the story:

Even with two teams from Tennessee, one from Georgia and one each from Kansas City and St. Louis, the 2007 Poplar Bluff Showdown will have a Southeast Missouri edge to it this week.

Three of the four first-round games Thursday at Peters Gym will have a local angle starting with Maplewood's coach.

"It is a great opportunity for one, to be back home and two, for my kids to see where I come from," said Corey Frazier, who grew up in Charleston and is a first cousin of Mules coach Lamont Frazier.

Frazier's Blue Devils will face Liberty Tech of Jackson, Tenn., a defending two-time state champion, at 4 p.m. Thursday.

Sikeston, which is making its second Showdown appearance, will play Harrison (Ga.) in the second game Thursday followed by the Mules at 7 p.m. taking on four-time state champion Raytown South.

The final game Thursday features two recent regulars to the Showdown in Union City, Tenn., which finished fourth last year, and Little Rock Mills, which finished third in 2003 and second in 2002.

If there is a Frazier family reunion it would happen Saturday in the finals.

"He does a great job at what he does," Lamont Frazier said. "I thought how fitting it would be for him to have an opportunity to come back (and) to be able to get this close to home to play."

Maplewood (6-1) features 6-foot junior guard Bryan Allen who is averaging 21.4 points, 7.4 rebounds, 5.4 assists, 5.5 steals and has six Division I offers. Travis Howard, a 5-9 senior, is averaging 11.3 points and 4.5 steals.

Corey Frazier's team will face two-time defending state champion Liberty Tech, which was 37-3 last season and off to a 9-4 start even after losing seven seniors. Charles Holt, a 6-1 senior guard, leads the Crusaders at 16 points per game and is getting some Division I interest. Cordarius Greer, a 6-2 senior, and 6-4 sophomore Tarius Johnson are each chipping in 14 points per game for fifth-year coach Dexter Williams.

The possibility of facing Sikeston in the second round might be fun to relive the rivalry for Corey Frazier, but it would also be a good test for his team.

"No knock against St. Louis, but what the kids do and believe and think (about basketball), it's a big thing down in Southeast Missouri," Frazier said. "It's tradition down there."

Sikeston is trying to add to that tradition after finishing second at state in 2006. Ranked fourth in Class 4, the Bulldogs (7-1) are led by 6-6 junior Michael Porter, who is averaging a double-double of 23.5 points and 10.5 rebounds to go with 3.4 assists and 4.2 blocks. Against the Mules earlier this month, Porter scored 26.

Sikeston, which lost to Jackson in the semifinals of the SEMO Conference Tournament, also features 5-10 senior Matt Ritch (10.8 ppg) and 6-5 junior Dominic Fondon (7.4 ppg).

The Harrison Hoyas return after finishing fifth at the Showdown last year and second in both 1999 and '98. Matt Sundberg, a 6-7 senior who has signed to play at the College of Charleston next fall, averaged 17.7 points per game at the Showdown last year. The Hoyas (8-2), who enter the tournament having lost two straight, also return starter Ryan Bayersdorfer, a 6-6 senior.

Poplar Bluff will enter the tournament coming off a 57-49 win against state-ranked Ft. Zumwalt South, but the Mules didn't give themselves an easy first-round game.

"Good luck finding one," Lamont Frazier said. "That's what I think helps you going into the second half of the season, playing tough competition.

Raytown South (3-3), which lost to rival and state-ranked Raytown 65-56 on Saturday, lost just one starter from a team that finished 21-5 under first-year coach Brad Oestreich. Dominique Newton, a 6-foot senior who scored 27 in a recent win against Truman, returns with 6-foot senior Michael Gohlston and 5-8 senior Maurice Woodard.

"Your guys will only get better as the competition gets better," Lamont Frazier said.

High-scoring Union City returns after finishing fourth last year at the Showdown and is the only unbeaten team in the field at 13-0. The Golden Tornadoes return a pair of 6-foot seniors in M.J. Brown, who scored 20 against Poplar Bluff last year, and Tony Wilkins, who scored 29 against Vashon. Andre Coby, a 6-2 senior, also returns for Union City, which finished 30-4 last season under coach Shane Sisco.

Mills (6-2) features eight seniors including 6-footer Mike Jackson, who was named to the all-state tournament team, and 6-2 junior Nick Hansberry, who was an all-state selection for the Comets last year.

Semifinals will be played Friday with the championship scheduled for 8:30 p.m. Saturday at Peters Gym.