The 51st Annual FNB Community Bank Vandalia Holiday Tournament will get underway Tuesday with four days of high school boys basketball action. Last year’s defending champion Christ Our Rock Lutheran comes in as this year’s #10 seed while the fourth place finishing Greenville Comets have the top seed. Pana who has won 2 of the last 3 tournaments finds themselves as the #8 seed and the host and #2 seed Vandals are trying to win their first tournament title in 42 years after coming up just short with two second place finishes in the last four tournaments.
#1 seed Greenville comes in to the tournament at 7-4 on the season with losses to Class 1A #4 Trenton Wesclin (70-57), Carlyle (49-37), Litchfield (54-52) and Staunton (46-42) with three of those losses coming in their last 6 games. The Comets finished 4th in last year’s VHT falling to Flora in the 3rd place game.
#2 seed Vandalia is 4-5 on the season and has won 3 of their last 5 games, but those two losses in the last 5 games both came last week to Carlyle (64-53) and Hillsboro (57-47). The Vandals have not won their own tournament since 1981, but have made 16 appearances in the title game overall with the last coming in 2019 with a runner-up finish to Pana. In pool play, the Vandals will meet up with #7 seed Cumberland who the Vandals have a win over this season already 63-30 and the Vandals have also met tournament team Macon Meridian already this season, coming away with a 57-55 win.
#3 seed Shelbyville is 7-4 on the season and five of those wins have come in their last six games. The Rams are five years removed from their last tournament title in 2018 when they beat the host Vandals in the championship. They have already matched up against tournament teams Pana (won 65-51) and Okaw Valley (lost 64-57) and will match up again with Okaw Valley in pool play.
#4 Macon Meridian is 7-4 on the season so far with one loss coming at the hands of Vandalia, 57-55, on December 2. Meridian has finished in the top 4 in three of the last four tournaments, finishing 2nd in 2021 after falling to Pana in the championship game, placing 4th in 2019 and 3rd in 2018. The Hawks have faired well in tournament play so far this season, going 3-1 in the Gene Bergschneider Tournament to open the season and going 2-1 in the Macon County Tournament earlier this month, falling to Warrensburg-Latham in the championship game.
#5 Flora comes in to the tournament at 4-6 on the season. The Wolves finished in 3rd at last year’s tournament, beating Greenville in the 3rd place game. The Wolves and the top seeded Comets have met this season, with the Wolves falling to Greenville 42-20 in the Carlyle Kaskaskia Classic earlier this month. The Wolves and the Comets will go head to head again, meeting in pool play on the tournament’s first day. Flora heads in to the tournament coming off a dominating 42-14 win over South Central in their only game this last week.
#6 Okaw Valley is 6-5 on the season and comes in to the tournament with an interesting pool play set up where they will meet Cumberland for the third time already this season. The Timberwolves lost to the Pirates in their first matchup 51-49 but did get a 62-33 win over the Pirates in their second meeting that just came on Friday. Okaw Valley has played a fairly tough schedule early on with one of their five losses coming 81-67 to the #1 ranked Class 1A team Tuscola.
#7 Cumberland has a record of 5-7 to begin tournament play and will face very familiar opponent Okaw Valley in pool play who they’ve went 1-1 against already this season with the latest meeting being a 62-33 loss. The Pirates will also meet up with host Vandalia in pool play who they took on in the consolation semifinal of their own Thanksgiving Tournament, falling 63-30.
#8 Pana, just two years removed from back to back titles in 2019 and 2021 (no tournament was held in 2020 due to Covid), has had a bit of a rough start to the season, trying to find their identity a bit after losing a large senior class from last year’s 18-15 season. The Panthers have gotten wins over Central A&M and Hillsboro with losses to Pawnee, Auburn, Litchfield and tournament teams Shelbyville and Nokomis.
#9 Nokomis comes in to the 2023 VHT after taking 2nd at last year’s tournament, falling to Christ Our Rock Lutheran in the championship game. The Redskins are 5-6 so far this season with one loss coming at the hands of top seed Greenville, 33-26, to open the season and one win coming to Pana, 34-27, just a couple weeks ago. Nokomis has won 4 of their last 6 games leading up to the tournament.
#10 Christ Our Rock is the defending VHT champion, beating Nokomis in last year’s title game, but has had a tough go of it so far this season, amassing a record of just 2-7. The Silver Stallions lost their first 6 games of the season but have went 2-1 in their last 3 games getting wins over Father McGivney and St. Elmo-Brownstown. CORL will play Sparta today in their final warm-up before heading into tournament play and kicking things off taking on top seed Greenville in Tuesday’s tournament opening game.
Keep up with daily scores and action from the Vandalia Holiday Tournament on our Winter Basketball Tournament page at https://www.i70sports.com/winter-basketball-tournament-schedules-2023-2024/ or visit the official Vandalia Holiday Tournament page at https://www.vandals203.org/page/holiday-tournament.
