MAC Rotary Shootout To Be On Regional Radio In Entirety

(PARK HILLS) The high school boys basketball portion of the MAC Rotary Shootout is set to be loaded Saturday on AM 800 KREI and J98.

The event will feature five high school boys basketball games before giving way to the hosts of the event, Mineral Area College, for a women’s and men’s basketball game.

The first of the five match ups will feature the St. Paul Giants and the Marquand Tigers.

First year head coach of St. Paul Justin Ford says he’s trying to create a winning mindset and work ethic at the small Farmington school.

Due up next will be the Kingston Cougars and the Valley of Caledonia Vikings in a rematch from last week. These two teams met in the 29th Annual Valley Tournament for a close battle in the 3rd place game.

Kingston just edged out Valley by a final of 46-44, as a buzzer beater from half court went begging for the Vikings.

It has been Valley winning two games this week however, and improving their record to 5-2, despite losing senior guard Keeton Loughery to injury in the Tuesday win over Grandview. Valley also beat Marquand on Thursday.

Head coach Johnny Vieland thinks his team is coming together in the wake of the injury.

Meanwhile for Kingston, they took two tough losses this week to Fredericktown and Jefferson, a couple of squads that head coach Paul Hamilton believes are some of the best they’ll see all year long. The Cougars are now 3-3.

Hamilton is excited for the rivalry rematch against Valley after besting them a week ago.

Playing third in the Rotary Shootout at MAC will be the Bismarck Indians and the Greenville Bears. Bismarck’s roster is comprised of seniors and freshman, with no sophomores or juniors. Head coach of the Bismarck Indians Colin Eaton says they’ve had to rely on the freshmen a lot when the seniors have to come off the floor.

In the fourth game of the day, the West County Bulldogs will take on the Potosi Trojans. West County dropped their first game of the season but have now won four straight to push their record to 4-1.

Bulldogs head coach Chris LaBruyere thanks his experience for the winning streak.

For Potosi, they have encountered a bit of a slow start to the year, going 1-2 in the FCNB Challenge last week. The Trojans have been without two of their experienced guards though, both of which are set to make their season debuts.

The final high school boys basketball game will feature the North County Raiders and the Perryville Pirates.

Perryville Dustin Wengert head coach says he and everyone else are still trying to figure themselves out before the Christmas break.

North County head coach Jimmy Palmer wants to see his team continuing to play hard and avoid a slow start.

The first four games can be heard Saturday on AM 800 KREI, with North County and Perryville on J-98.

We’ll also broadcast the Mineral Area College double header against John Wood on The Boot.
The MAC Ladies come off a convincing victory over Vincennes at 8-3. John Wood is 5-4. Cardinals coach Gary Koch says the Blazers run their stuff through their point guard.

The MAC men are averaging 108 points over their last two games and come in at 10-2. MAC has seven players averaging between nine and 16 points per game, while John Wood has only one player in figures. However, Cory Miller is putting up 21 per game. MAC Coach Luke Strege says they’ll try to disrupt the Blazers structure.

Former MAC basketball player Jim Smith and basketball and baseball player Scott Little will be inducted into the St. Francois County Rotary Mineral Area College Hall of Fame between the women’s and men’s games.