Jackson High School to host juco basketball jamboree

Area basketball fans who enjoy watching junior college men's hoops won't have to travel far this week to get their fix.

Jackson High School will be the site of Saturday's four-game Juco Jamboree featuring two teams from Missouri and two squads from Tennessee.

Participants are Three Rivers College from Poplar Bluff, Mo.; Mineral Area College from Park Hills, Mo.; Dyersburg (Tenn.) State Community College and Southwest Tennessee Community College.

Three Rivers will play Dyersburg at 10 a.m., followed by contests between Mineral Area and Southwest Tennessee at 11:30 a.m., Mineral Area and Dyersburg at 1 p.m., and Three Rivers and Southwest Tennessee at 3 p.m.

According to Jackson boys basketball coach Darrin Scott, legendary Three Rivers coach Gene Bess called inquiring if the school would be interested in hosting the preseason jamboree. Scott told me he jumped at the opportunity.

Scott said Three Rivers generally holds one jamboree at home and also takes a jamboree out on the road to a high school in the region.

Three Rivers has several players on its roster from the region, including Jackson graduate John Meyer.

The 6-foot-9 Meyer had a solid freshman season for the Raiders last year while battling injury. He has been out with a shoulder injury that required surgery, but Scott told me he's hopeful Meyer will be able to play some Saturday.

Mineral Area also features several players from the region, including 6-6 sophomore Bryce Weibrecht, a Perryville High School graduate who had a solid rookie season for the Cardinals last year.

Admission for the event is $2, which covers all four games.

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Southeast Missouri State was just the latest football team to get steamrolled by Eastern Illinois' juggernaut squad that is ranked third nationally and showing signs that it has a good chance of ending the Ohio Valley Conference's long playoff victory drought.

EIU, led by star senior quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, rolled past the Redhawks 55-33 on Saturday in Charleston, Ill. The game was not as close as the score suggests as Southeast scored twice in the final two minutes.

That the Panthers put up 55 points, along with 665 total yards, on Southeast was no surprise. They entered play leading the nation in total offense with an average of 584 yards per game while ranking high nationally in most of the other major statistical offensive categories, including scoring at 46.8 points per contest.

That offense is fueled by Garoppolo, a strong-armed, 6-foot-3, 222-pounder who leads the nation in passing yards and touchdown passes. He owns OVC career records in both categories.

Garoppolo, one of the nation's premier quarterbacks on any level, is rising fast on NFL draft boards. He is widely regarded as having a solid chance to go as high as the second or third round and has even been mentioned as a potential first-round pick.

An OVC football team has not won a playoff game since 2000 but the Panthers, whose lone loss was 43-39 at undefeated, 23rd-ranked FBS squad Northern Illinois, should have a good chance to end that dubious streak this year.

And so could another OVC squad, since the league has been strong overall this season and could have two representatives in the FCS's expanded playoff field of 24. The most likely qualifier is 22nd-ranked Tennessee State, which is perfect in OVC play and hosts the Panthers Saturday in the OVC game of the year.

Meanwhile, a young and inexperienced Southeast (1-6, 1-3 OVC) team has a shot to finish the season relatively strong.

On paper, at least, most of the Redhawks' toughest opponents are out of the way and they play three of their final five games at home after having only two home contests so far.

Southeast begins a string of three straight Houck Stadium dates this Saturday when Eastern Kentucky visits for homecoming.

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The Southeast men's basketball team is expected to rank among the OVC favorites this season. Several publications have tabbed the Redhawks to win the OVC West Division after they finished second last year.

Tuesday the Redhawks will find out exactly where they rank in the OVC's official preseason poll voted on by the league's coaches and sports information directors.

I'm sure tradition-rich Murray State, the defending OVC West Division champion, will still get some support, but all of the Racers' top players last year were seniors, and I'll be surprised if Southeast doesn't rank as the West favorite.

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The Kelly High School softball team is at it again.

Kelly has made it back to this week's Class 2 final four in Springfield, Mo., which almost seems like an annual rite of passage for the tradition-rich program led by coach Rhonda Ratledge. The Hawks have advanced to the state semifinals seven of the past 10 years.

Kelly had no problem winning its sectional and quarterfinal games last week, outscoring those two opponents by a combined 26-0. Now the Hawks will set their sights on the state title after finishing third last season.

Meanwhile, Oran fell just short of its first final four berth, losing a 7-6 Class 1 quarterfinal heartbreaker at Walnut Grove on Saturday.

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Finally, I leave you with this:

Go Cardinals!

Marty Mishow is a sports writer for the Southeast Missourian.