The start of the 2023-24 basketball season brings a slew of preseason tournament games for area high schools.
Iola High’s Mustangs will hit the road to Richmond starting Monday for the Ike Cearfoss Basketball Tournament.
The girls will take on host Central Heights at 6:30 p.m. in the Central Heights gymnasium. The boys will follow at about 8 o’clock, depending on when the girls’ game concludes.
Win or lose, the teams will return to Central Heights on Thursday for semifinal action, against either Lebo or Kansas City Christian. The final round, against any of four teams — Osage City, Olathe Heritage, West Franklin or Santa Fe Trail — will be either Friday or Saturday, depending on how the earlier games shake out.
ELSEWHERE, Humboldt, Marmaton Valley and Yates Center all will host their own preseason tournaments.
The Humboldt Preseason Tournament begins at 4 p.m. Tuesday, and will include Crest, Erie and Uniontown.
Crest’s girls and boys will take on Erie Tuesday, followed by Humboldt taking on Uniontown with a doubleheader to follow.
On Thursday, the round-robin action continues with Erie’s teams tackling Uniontown, followed by the Crest-Humboldt matchups.
The tournament concludes Friday with Uniontown taking on Crest and Humboldt playing against Erie.
THE MARMATON Valley Preseason Invitational is a three-team, round-robin affair.
The host Wildcats will host Northeast-Arma on Tuesday, starting at 6 o’clock. Marmaton Valley then takes on Madison on Friday evening. Northeast and Madison will play each other on Thursday in the round-robin tournament.
YATES CENTER’s Wildcat Winter Classic tips off Monday evening, with the girls hosting South Haven at 5:30 p.m., and the boys doing the same at about 7 o’clock.
They’ll return on Thursday to play either Olpe or Leon-BlueStem.
The final round, against either Cherryvale, Sedan, West Elk or Neodesha, wraps up the tournament on Friday.
SOUTHERN Coffey County’s girls and boys squads will be in Melvern for the Marais des Cygnes Valley Tipoff Classic, starting with games against Lawrence Veritas on Monday, then contests against either Bishop Seabury or Hartford on Thursday. Depending on how those games go, the Titans teams will play either Friday or Saturday against one of four teams: Peabody Burns, NEK Homeschool, Altoona-Midway or Marais des Cygnes Valley.
