Balance has been the key to Marseilles Tournament’s success

Only one repeat winner in 11 years creates exciting small-school basketball

When Jeff Owens had the idea to host the Marseilles Holiday Tournament way back in 2008, he had no idea it would become the holiday staple it is today, this year’s cancellation due to the pandemic notwithstanding.

Owens knew the small schools in the Marseilles area played quality basketball, but come the holidays had to either struggle against larger schools in quality events like Plano or had to travel great distances to play similarly sized foes. After brainstorming with friends like Randy Goodbred, Owens felt the week after Christmas was the perfect time not only to get the little guys together, but to show off his school’s newly-renovated gym.

Since then, so balanced have been the fields in its 11 years, no team won it twice until the very first champ, Indian Creek, won again in 2019. In between, taking home the big trophy were, in order, Woodland, Putnam County, St. Bede, Kewanee, Reed-Custer, Flanagan-Cornell, Serena, Marquette and Hall.

“Coach (Jeremy) Heck said that years from then we’d be talking about that game, and here I am, 10 years later, and every time I see my teammates or Coach Heck, that’s the first thing that comes up, how exciting and fun that game was.”

—  Woodland graduate and current head coach Connor Kaminke on beating crosstown Streator for the Marseilles title

“I never thought it would be like it is, how it’s grown in teams and popularity,” said Owens, the Marseilles Grade School superintendent and AD. “We started out in 2009 with eight teams, but we went to 16 just four years later. I certainly didn’t think it would grow that fast. It took some of the other tournaments around the state years to grow like that. The 16 teams is just perfect. It’s eight games a day for four days, good crowds, the great fans following the small schools, and when they’re good, people come.

“But all I do is roll the ball out on Dec. 26 and say, ‘Here you go, guys, have at it.’ It’s the fans, the schools, the coaches and the players that have made this tournament what it is.”

The first tournament in 2009 was won by Indian Creek over Woodland, 57-48, despite the play of the MVP, the Warriors’ Connor Kaminke.

But it was the championship game the following year in 2010 that really sold the event to the holiday game-watching public. Woodland returned to the title game against the crosstown rival Streator Bulldogs and dynamic scorer J.J. Cravatta. The two Streator schools — who had never met before — ended up in opposite brackets so if they did, it would be in the title game. That came to pass.

The MVP went to Cravatta, who averaged 30.2 points, but an ankle injury and staunch WHS defense limited him to just eight in the finale. Behind Matt Hays’ 24 points, the Warriors came away with the title, 51-42, in front of a wild, standing-room-only crowd of 1,300 fans.

“The four games the first year were some of the most enjoyable I’ve ever been a part of, as an individual and as a team, but we lost,” said Kaminke, who has since returned to Marseilles as head coach of the Warriors. “The next year, we thought it would be awesome to play (Streator), but we both had a lot to get through to get there. It had to work out just right and it did. …

“Coach (Jeremy) Heck said that years from then we’d be talking about that game, and here I am, 10 years later, and every time I see my teammates or Coach Heck, that’s the first thing that comes up, how exciting and fun that game was.

“Now every time going to that gym, it gives me flashbacks to that night. What a great memory. … I wouldn’t want to spend Christmastime playing basketball anywhere else.”

Subsequent years were a blend of great individual performances – like Travis Schoonover of run-and-gun Reed-Custer scoring a record 47 points after having just three at halftime in a 101-96 OT win over Dwight in the 2014 title contest – and great team play in nail-biting finishes.

Take Marquette’s triple-overtime victory over Indian Creek in 2017. It took a Logan Komater 3-pointer with 12.5 seconds left in the fourth to send the game to extras, but the Timberwolves missed chances to win it in the first two OTs. In the third, the Crusaders’ Jack Snook — who already clinched MVP honors with 27 points — passed up the final shot to pass to Chase Thumm for a closer one with just 4.6 remaining, giving MA a 65-63 win.

There was also fifth-seeded Serena’s Cinderella run to the title in 2016, starting with a 62-59, opening win over Flanagan-Cornell on Dawson Fuller’s 3-pointer at the buzzer. The Huskers then beat No. 4 Dwight and knocked off No. 1 seed Kewanee in OT, 66-64, to make the championship game, where Thomas Wehner’s putback at the buzzer beat Indian Creek 51-49 before another sellout crowd.

“There are so many great performances, like Serena’s,” Owens said. “Those were four perfect games they played, and those kids will remember those four days for the rest of their lives. That’s what you have to do to win a tournament like this.

“(F-C coach) Brian Yoder once told me that all his kids wanted to do was get back to Flanagan and go watch games in Pontiac. Face it, Pontiac is the granddaddy of them all. But I knew we were a success when a few years ago, I walked outside for some fresh air and I overheard some kids from DePue going in and they said, ‘Gee, I wish we played in a tournament like this.’ When kids playing in another tournament come here to watch basketball games, that’s when I thought to myself, ‘Ah, we did it.’ ”

“It seems like every Christmas since I was 16 years old,” said Kaminke, “I’ve either been playing there, watching there or coaching there, so it definitely holds a very special place in my heart. In my opinion, it’s one of the best small-school tournaments around, and it gets better every single year.”