Lineup set for 12-team, 4-night Marseilles Shootout

Marseilles Holiday Tournament director Jeff Owens loves basketball and will go to great lengths to give fans what they want, in whatever format he can devise, no matter what the obstacle or limitation.

The tournament as it was will not exist this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but unless something else happens between now and the end of the year, there will be basketball in the Marseilles Grade School gym come Dec. 26-30.

Instead of a 16-team, winners/losers bracket event, this year’s MHT will be a shootout featuring several new teams and matchups, including an intriguing encounter between tourney host Marquette Academy and La Salle-Peru High School.

“We wanted to give the teams we had the chance to do something, and this is better than what we thought would happen — nothing,” said Owens. “It’s not a perfect world, but at least it's some basketball for the holidays for some teams.”

The shootout will consist of four nights with three games played per night, at 1, 3 and 6 p.m.

The first day, Saturday, Dec. 26, will have St. Bede against Putnam County followed by Seneca taking on Hall and then Marquette meeting Kewanee Wethersfield.

On Monday, Dec. 28, play will start with Henry-Senachwine against Flanagan-Cornell. Then Woodland will take on Lexington and finally Dwight vs. Gardner-South Wilmington.

The Tuesday, Dec. 29, slate has Seneca doing battle with Lexington, GSW facing Henry and an interesting encounter, the Crusaders squaring off against the L-P Cavaliers.

The final night, Wednesday, Dec. 30, sees Hall against Woodland, Flanagan-Cornell versus St. Bede and Putnam County battling Dwight.

Owens said that he’d “love to” go back to the original format, but believes “those days are gone” for this year due to the decisions by some conferences to play within themselves in lieu of the holiday events.

“It was more difficult than I thought it was going to be, because at first we were going under the assumption that you could only play two games a week,” Owens explained. “Some conferences took Christmas off, some didn’t. … Now it looks like all that has changed and we can play multiple nights.

“Wethersfield wanted one game, and they got it. L-P was looking for a game and Tuesday was open, and they said they’d take it. Marquette’s playing both of them, two of the tougher teams in this, but Hop [MA coach Todd Hopkins] never shies away from tough competition. …

"Teams are looking for a place to go, saying, ‘The tournament we were at was cancelled, can you get me two games somewhere?’

"We’ve got them.”

Owens is still unsure if fans will be allowed into the games. The current number allowed in a gym during an indoor athletic event per IHSA pandemic restrictions is 50. Each team will likely account for 18 between players, coaches and managers, plus the three officials, three scorers table workers and an athletic trainer, that’s already well over 40.

Because the tournament and its concession stand have always been a key money-maker for Marseilles Grade School athletics, Owens has possibly come up with a way to both raise money and appease fans wanting basketball: stream the games on the internet behind a paywall.

He has considered even doing the same for the MGS games.

“That could be the most frustrating thing out of all this,” said Owens, “that Mom and Dad or Grandma and Grandpa can’t be in the gym to watch their kids play, as of right now.

“What the future holds, I don’t know. There’s a long way to go yet, so we’ll see what happens between now and then. It’s been described as we’re building a plane as we’re flying it, it’s changing so fast.

"We’ll have to be ready for anything … but right now, it looks like we’ve got a pretty good lineup.”