The ongoing winter break hasn’t been much of a vacation for the South Pike Eagles, who are preparing to play in their second tournament of the break this weekend in Walthall County.
The Eagles will be one of six teams playing in the Dexter Holiday Tournament at Dexter High School on Friday and Saturday, just one week after participating in the McComb Coca-Cola Holiday Classic at McComb High School.
The tournament will provide the team its third and fourth games of the break, and more significantly its second back-to-back stretch in two weeks.
Head coach Joe Taylor said he chose to schedule a busy winter break for his team to prepare it for the upcoming Region 7-4A portion of its schedule.
“We will play teams (in the Dexter tournament) that are not in our district. That will prepare us for different styles of play,” Taylor said. “With the exception of Dexter, I have not seen the other teams play, but I know the competition will be fierce.”
The Eagles will face Dexter in Friday night’s semifinals after the Bulldogs took down West Marion in their first-round meeting Thursday night. South Pike and Wesson both received first-round byes in the tournament.
In addition to enlightening his team to a number of different playing styles, Taylor is also looking to toughen up his team for the arduous stretch run to the season.
“We didn't want a long break between games,” Taylor said. “The next game after the tourney will be Brookhaven. And then after that it will be a week.”
The Eagles travel to Brookhaven on Tuesday, Jan. 7, then return to action on Jan. 14 to open district play against Purvis.
Taylor continued by assessing his team’s play at McComb last week. He was critical of the Eagles toughness and hustle, but did not question their will to win or desire to succeed.
The head coach said he will not just be coaching to improve his team this weekend, but instead will be coaching to win the tournament, simply hoping to watch his team grow along the way.
“If we can win the tournament, it would mean a lot to the guys and to the season,” Taylor said.
South Pike’s girls basketball team will also compete in this weekend’s tournament.
Like the boys, the Lady Eagles received a first-round bye through Thursday’s action and will open semifinal play tonight against West Marion, who took down the Dexter Lady Bulldogs 57-43 Thursday night.
