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Southwestern Has Holiday Rebirth With Boys Christmas Tournament

Dec 26, 2023 4:05 PM Dec 27, 2023 9:53 AM

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PIASA - There is a rebirth of some sort going on this holiday season with the new Southwestern Boys Christmas Tournament.

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Southwestern opens play at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 27, 2023, against Dupo. At 5 p.m. on Wednesday, the Piasa Birds play Maryville Christian.

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Southwestern Athletic Director Brian Hanslow and head boys basketball coach Jason Darr said the idea came up last year when they were discussing trying to find another tournament closer to home than the Columbia/Freeburg Holiday Tournament.

"It was four long drives and took up most of the time players and coaches had off during break," he said.

Southwestern used to host a Boys Christmas Tournament with Carrollton and rotated the location every year from 2001-2013.

"So, we talked about starting up one again at home," Hanslow said. "It took some planning and a lot of e-mails trying to find teams to join that were not already in a tournament. We found four teams and decided to start a round-robin tournament, that would be played in two days. It solved our travel time, and days gone during the holidays, and we think the teams we have added were looking for the same type of tournament."