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FRONTENAC —
The Kansas National Guard Invitational makes its debut this week with eight boys and four girls teams from Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma ready to rumble during Tournament Week.
Frontenac High School hosts this invitational after many years of being associated with the Lancer Classic, a tournament featuring predominantly fellow Crawford-Neosho-Cherokee League schools like host Southeast and Columbus, as well as Baxter Springs and Riverton. Baxter Springs and Riverton signed on with the Frontenac tournament.
Play starts Thursday and runs through Saturday with games in the new and the old Frontenac High gymnasiums.
"It was brought up a year ago," Frontenac athletic director Chad Ulepich said. "I met with Mike Snow from 99.1 — The Ticket and talked about hosting a tournament. We were looking for an alternative out of the Lancer Classic just based on the competition that we see from year-to-year. Nothing against the Lancer Classic, we see CNC schools all throughout the year. This was different competition that we were hoping to bring here."
On the boys side, teams include Douglass (three-time defending Oklahoma Class 4A state champions), Winfield (coached by Girard alum Troy Lallemand), Fort Scott (a basketball perennial in Southeast Kansas), Nevada (featuring high-scoring guard Silas Smith) and Riverton (currently 7-2 and the No. 2 seed behind Douglass).
"First of all, we were happy to have three games at home," Frontenac head coach Doug Barto said, "in the tournament to showcase some of the talent that we're going to have coming into the tournament. When I seen some of the teams that are coming in, it's kind of exciting.
Douglass, out of Oklahoma City. I've got a close friend out of Winfield (Lallemand) coming down. Real close to Coach DeLaTorre (Fort Scott head coach Jeff DeLaTorre) and to Coach Martin (Riverton head coach Zach Martin). I went and scouted Nevada (against St. Mary’s Colgan) the other night and they've got a nice team. It's going to be a tough tournament."
The Frontenac boys enter with a 5-3 record and play Nevada at 6:45 p.m. Thursday. All three Raider losses have been at home (Labette County, Colgan, Columbus) and all five Raider wins have been on the road (Neodesha, Jayhawk-Linn, Lamar, Northeast, Uniontown).
Douglass features point guard Stephen Clark, who signed Nov. 21 with Oklahoma State. Clark is the top-ranked recruit in the state of Oklahoma.
“Stevie is not only one of the best high school players to ever play in the state of Oklahoma,” Oklahoma State head coach Travis Ford said in a media release, “but he is also an excellent student. He’s one of the top guards in the country. He gets a lot of publicity for how he can score the basketball but he is also a great passer and a great ballhandler. He’s a winner. His team has won three state championships, and are looking forward to trying to win a fourth.”
The Kansas National Guard Invitational makes its debut this week with eight boys and four girls teams from Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma ready to rumble during Tournament Week.
Frontenac High School hosts this invitational after many years of being associated with the Lancer Classic, a tournament featuring predominantly fellow Crawford-Neosho-Cherokee League schools like host Southeast and Columbus, as well as Baxter Springs and Riverton. Baxter Springs and Riverton signed on with the Frontenac tournament.
Play starts Thursday and runs through Saturday with games in the new and the old Frontenac High gymnasiums.
"It was brought up a year ago," Frontenac athletic director Chad Ulepich said. "I met with Mike Snow from 99.1 — The Ticket and talked about hosting a tournament. We were looking for an alternative out of the Lancer Classic just based on the competition that we see from year-to-year. Nothing against the Lancer Classic, we see CNC schools all throughout the year. This was different competition that we were hoping to bring here."
On the boys side, teams include Douglass (three-time defending Oklahoma Class 4A state champions), Winfield (coached by Girard alum Troy Lallemand), Fort Scott (a basketball perennial in Southeast Kansas), Nevada (featuring high-scoring guard Silas Smith) and Riverton (currently 7-2 and the No. 2 seed behind Douglass).
"First of all, we were happy to have three games at home," Frontenac head coach Doug Barto said, "in the tournament to showcase some of the talent that we're going to have coming into the tournament. When I seen some of the teams that are coming in, it's kind of exciting.
Douglass, out of Oklahoma City. I've got a close friend out of Winfield (Lallemand) coming down. Real close to Coach DeLaTorre (Fort Scott head coach Jeff DeLaTorre) and to Coach Martin (Riverton head coach Zach Martin). I went and scouted Nevada (against St. Mary’s Colgan) the other night and they've got a nice team. It's going to be a tough tournament."
The Frontenac boys enter with a 5-3 record and play Nevada at 6:45 p.m. Thursday. All three Raider losses have been at home (Labette County, Colgan, Columbus) and all five Raider wins have been on the road (Neodesha, Jayhawk-Linn, Lamar, Northeast, Uniontown).
Douglass features point guard Stephen Clark, who signed Nov. 21 with Oklahoma State. Clark is the top-ranked recruit in the state of Oklahoma.
“Stevie is not only one of the best high school players to ever play in the state of Oklahoma,” Oklahoma State head coach Travis Ford said in a media release, “but he is also an excellent student. He’s one of the top guards in the country. He gets a lot of publicity for how he can score the basketball but he is also a great passer and a great ballhandler. He’s a winner. His team has won three state championships, and are looking forward to trying to win a fourth.”
ESPN.com ranks Clark as the 62nd best high school player in the country and the four-star recruit chose Oklahoma State over Baylor, Florida State, Marquette, Missouri, Oklahoma and UCLA.
On Thursday night, Douglass faces a winless Baxter team which surrendered 102 points to Miami (Okla.), 92 points to Parsons and 87 points to Girard.
Meanwhile, on the girls side, Frontenac will see Baxter Springs, Fort Scott and Hogan Prep (Mo).
"I was very excited," Frontenac head coach Jeremy Rakes said. "We've talked about this for quite some time. . . . We're in a great spot for people to come in. We always want to try and get top-tier teams over here. . . . He's already working on next year, bringing in some more top-tier teams."
Frontenac (7-1) enters tournament play on a seven-game winning streak since a season-opening loss at home to Colgan. The Raiders had won the last two Lancer Classic titles.
The Raiders and the Lions of Baxter Springs (5-2) have engaged in some tough, competitive games in recent years, including games in the Lancer Classic (final two years ago, semis last year) and CNC play. Frontenac clinched its first CNC title since 2003 with a win over Baxter Springs.
Like the Raiders, picked first by the coaches of the CNC in the preseason poll, the Tigers of Fort Scott and head coach Jeff Armstrong (4-5) were selected preseason No. 1 by the coaches of the Southeast Kansas League.
Frontenac plays Baxter Springs on Thursday (5 p.m.), Fort Scott (5 p.m.) on Friday and Hogan Prep (4:30 p.m) on Saturday.
Additionally, Fort Scott hosts a Class 4A substate this year with Baxter Springs and Frontenac also in the field, as well as Girard and Pittsburg.
