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NMCC gearing up for Paducah tournament
PADUCAH, Ky. -- The New Madrid County Central Eagles basketball team will compete in the annual Paducah Tilghman Christmas Tournament on Thursday night with a 6:30 game against St. Mary.
It will be the first time NMCC has competed in the tournament which features some of the top teams in Western Kentucky.
NMCC head coach David Fields is familiar with the tournament from his days as an assistant at Mayfield.
"I know the guy at Paducah and when I got the head coaching position we were looking for a tournament before Christmas," said Fields. "That's relatively close and maybe our fans could go watch us play some out of state teams. When I was at Mayfield we were in it every year. It was just something I wanted to get the kids involved in."
NMCC hasn't played many games in the state of Kentucky. Most recently, they played in the Graves County Shootout where they lost to Paducah Tilghman 71-56 in the 2000-01 season.
So Fields knows his team will be in for a challenge in unfamiliar territory.
"New Madrid actually two years ago played Paducah Tilghman out at Graves County, and that was my first recollection of even knowing who New Madrid was," said Fields. "Tilghman was pretty good that year and that was the year following the first state title at New Madrid."
Tilghman has remained strong, taking second in the state last year. Mayfield is considered one of the top teams in Western Kentucky. And Fields said St. Mary, a private Catholic school in Paducah, may be facing a rebuilding year this season.
"For the past four years St. Mary has made the All-A Classic in Kentucky," said Fields. "But they've kind of been hit by graduation a little bit. They're not as good this year as they have been in the past. But they do have some tradition."
Also on the NMCC-St. Mary side is Paducah Tilghman and Ballard Memorial. If NMCC gets by St. Mary, they will play the winner of that game on Saturday at 1 p.m.
The championship game of the tournament is Saturday night at 8 p.m.
On the bottom half of the bracket, Mayfield will play Livingston Central and Christian Fellowship will play Lone Oak.
"They favorite to come out of that has got to be Mayfield," said Fields. "They start five seniors and return four starters. They've got two kids that are projected to possibly go Division I."
NMCC is currently 1-4 on the season. The Eagles won their first game in the Sikeston Invitational Tournament when they defeated Kennett on the consolation semifinals.
The Eagles were denied a chance to win the consolation when the game was canceled due to the weather.
Fields isn't expecting the Tilghman tournament to be any easier than the SIT.
"We'll have to play awfully well to win," said Fields. "We can't be concerned with everybody else right now, we've got to take care of ourselves. Is it one we can win? Yeah. Everything has to go well for us.
"It's a tough seed, we'll have to go through St. Mary, Paducah Tilghman and Mayfield, which are two of the top teams in Western Kentucky. It definitely will be a battle for us, but I think it's something that our kids need. A lot of the teams over there will be like us as far as matching our athleticism."
NMCC has been led by several different players in the scoring column. Juniors Edgar Givens, Mack Kimble and Vaughn Shepard have led the way in most games.
"We're just trying to find the right combination," said Fields. "We're playing a lot of kids, we're trying to get more movement in our offense but still play good defense. We're only giving up around 53 points per game. If we can continue that then we're going to be in ballgames. That's the main key right now. I'm not so concerned with wins or losses, but that I see improvement."