As far as Lee Adams was concerned, he was suddenly in high school basketball heaven.
“I was going to broadcast the Reno High games (for 630-AM) at the Slam Dunk to the Beach Tournament in Delaware,” said Adams, now the tournament director of the 2011 Wild West Shootout boys basketball tournament at Bishop Manogue High on Dec. 14-17. “I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.”
Adams saw the future of holiday basketball tournaments in northern Nevada.
“There were 46 of the best teams in the country there in Lewes, Delaware just out side Washington, D.C.,” Adams added. “It was amazing. There were so many great players (like Reno High’s David Padgett as well as future NBA players Leon Powe, Kris Humphries, Kendrick Perkins and Travis Outlaw).
“There were games from eight in the morning through the whole day and evening. And there were a ton of NBA scouts and college coaches in the gym everyday. I just thought that we needed something like this in northern Nevada for the community’s basketball fans and for our schools and athletes.”
The 10-team Wild West Shootout this December at Bishop Manogue will feature 18 games in four days starting with three games on Wednesday: Galena High will play Inglewood (Calif.) at 3 p.m. followed by Post Falls (Idaho) against Reno at 4:30 and Douglas against Lakes (Lakewood, Wash.) at 6 p.m.
This will be the fifth tournament that Adams has served as tournament director since 2004. He was the tournament director for the Wild West Shootout at Reno High in December 2004 as well as three George Maldonado Classics at Galena High from 2005-07. The past two years he has also helped at the Wild West Shootout in other capacities.
“After I saw that tournament in Delaware it just got in my blood,” Adams said. “I knew then it was something I needed to make happen for the high school basketball fans in northern Nevada.”
This year’s tournament at Bishop Manogue will feature five local teams (Reno, Manogue, Hug, Douglas and Galena) and will benefit the Early Childhood Autism Program at the University of Nevada and the Sierra Kids Foundation. Hug will debut in the tournament on Thursday against Inglewood (3 p.m.). Bishop Manogue will take on Post Falls on Thursday at 7:30 p.m.
“The basketball is great and seeing all of these great players is incredible,” Adams said. “But the best thing is it just feels so good to help those kids and their families who cannot afford their autism treatments. We are helping to change people’s lives through basketball.”
The five teams traveling to northern Nevada for the Wild West Shootout this year are Long Beach (Calif.) Poly, Lakes High of Lakewood, Wash., Inglewood (Calif.) High., Buchanan High of Clovis, Calif., and Post Falls (Id.) High.
Long Beach Poly was 31-2 last year and was ranked as high as No. 2 in the nation. Leading the Jackrabbits this year are 6-foot-6 forwards Roschon Prince and Jordan Bell. Prince has already received a scholarship offer from USC.
Lakes High, which won its state title in 2010, is led by the imposing, 6-4, 330-pound Zach Banner. Banner, who is also a top recruit in football, has offers from Cal, Washington, Oklahoma and Michigan in both football and basketball.
Inglewood High, one of the top teams in southern California, has 6-9 center Charles Lockwood, another top Division I recruit.
Buchanan is coached by former Reno High and McQueen High coach Eric Swain, a Carson High graduate. Buchanan is led by Swain’s son Ryan and 6-6 forward McKay Wilkerson.
Post Falls is led by Washington State recruit Marcus Colbert, and 6-6 forward Seth Anderson.
There will also be great local talent at the Wild West Shootout this year.
Manogue finished second in the state in Class 4A last year. Douglas has talented 6-foot-8 junior Hunter Myers and Hug has 5-8 guard Andrew Johnson, 6-5 forward Sam Williams and 5-10 point guard Norris Dupree. Reno High won the 4A state title in 2006 and 2008 and Galena won state in 2007.
“The key to selecting these teams is their talent,” Adams said. “That’s what attracts the scouts and coaches to come to the tournament. They want to see great players. Teams also want to compete against other teams with great players. That’s what makes a successful holiday tournament.”
Adams has a history of bringing great teams and great players to northern Nevada around the holidays.
The 2005 Maldonado Classic featured a memorable match-up between Bishop Gorman of Las Vegas and Reno’s Galena High. Gorman featured stars Marcus Lawrence and Jonathan Tavernari as well as DeMarco Murray, who is currently a star running back for the Dallas Cowboys Galena that year had sophomore standout Luke Babbitt, who is now with the Portland Trail Blazers of the NBA.
The game came down to a winning 3-pointer by Murray in the final seconds as Gorman held off Galena 60-58 at Galena High. Galena outscored Gorman 26-18 in a furious fourth-quarter rally after trailing by 10 after three quarters.
The 2006 Maldonado Classic at Galena High that Adams organized is widely recognized as the most star-filled holiday tournament to ever come to northern Nevada.
In addition to great local talents like Babbitt of Galena, Armon Johnson of Hug and Keith Olson of Douglas the visiting teams also filled Galena High with incredible talent. Artesia High from Lakewood, Calif., brought James Harden, Renardo Sidney and Malik Story.
Harden is now in the NBA, Story now plays for the University of Nevada and Sidney is now at Mississippi State. Mountain View of Mesa, Az., brought Harper Kamp and Kendall Wallace. Kamp is now at the University of California and Wallace went on to play for UNLV. Arlington Country Day of Jacksonville, Fla., brought guard A.J. Stewart, who went on to play for the University of Kentucky.
Artesia beat Galena in the December 2006 Maldonado Classic 90-65 as Harden and Sidney scored 17 points each and Story had 21. Babbitt scored 23 for Galena. Galena, though, went on to win the Nevada Class 4A state title the following February two months later.
“This is a great tournament for northern Nevada,” Bishop Manogue coach Bill Ballinger said recently. “We always want to play the best teams we can play and we get to do that without leaving our own gym this year. There’s going to be some great basketball played those four days.”
This year’s Wild West Shootout will also feature entertainment outside of the basketball games.
There will be a slam dunk contest on Dec. 16 and one lucky fan will get a chance to win a free automobile from Bill Pearce Mini of Reno on Dec. 17 after making a lay-up, free throw, 3-pointer and a half court shot in 25 seconds. Another lucky fan will get a chance to make a half-court shot to win $10,000 on Dec. 16.
The Post Falls-Manogue game on Dec. 15 (7:30 p.m.) will be a tribute to former Channel 2 sports reporter J.K. Metzger, who died in November.
“We are all very excited for the fans of northern Nevada to get this chance to see great high school basketball as well as help out a very important charity,” Adams said.
