ROGERS — Some of the top high school boys basketball players in Southwest Missouri are coming to Rogers for the Arvest Hoopfest Basketball Tournament at Rogers High.
The eight-team tournament begins today in King Arena, and features three teams from Missouri, four teams from Arkansas and one from Oklahoma.
Waynesville will bring three college prospects into its first round game with Mount Vernon today at 5:30 p.m. Tops on the that list is Juwan Morgan (6-foot-7, 210 pounds), who is listed by Rivals.com as the No. 138 rated junior in the country. The Tigers also boast college prospects in senior Kellieon Williams (6-6, 200) and sophomore Joe Johnson.
Mount Vernon is led by junior post Chandler Myers and junior guard Luke Call. Mount Vernon ended last season with a loss in the Class 3A quarterfinals and they are expected to make another deep run at the state tournament.
“Waynesville has several Division I players, and they were really good last year,” said Rogers coach Wayne Herren. “They return just about everybody.”
Rogers High will open the tournament at 8:30 p.m. today when it faces Pea Ridge for the second time this season. Rogers Heritage will face defending Hoopfest champion Webb City, Mo., at 7 p.m.
The Mounties (1-2) defeated Pea Ridge 43-39 in the season opener, but they played that game without starters Hunter Hill and Brett Gentz. Hill, the Mounties’ top scorer, is back but Gentz is doubtful for tonight’s game, Herren said.
“Hunter is probably 90, 95 percent, and that is good for us,” Herren said. “Bottom line is that we have to win our first game. You can’t look ahead because if you do you will find yourselves in the loser’s bracket. We were lucky to get a win at Pea Ridge, and I expect Pea Ridge to be better than last time. It’s going to be a very tough game.”
Heritage (3-1) coach Tom Olsen said the tourney is one of the strongest in several years.
“Things are going to get tough real quick here,” Olsen said. “Webb City always has a strong team, and Waynesville has a real strong group.”
The Rogers-Pea Ridge winner will get the Waynesville-Mount Vernon winner on Friday, while the Heritage-Webb City winner gets the Fort Smith Southside-Tulsa Edison winner in the other semifinal game. The finals are at 6 p.m. Saturday.