Prep basketball | Holiday tournaments tip off in Manatee County on Monday

BRADENTON -- On the verge of the third, final and most important month of the regular season, Bradenton becomes a basketball town Monday. With a pair of tournaments for local teams spanning three of the final days of 2015, Manatee County provides a springboard for a handful of state-title hopefuls before the district-heavy January slate begins next week.

At Southeast High School's Benjamin "Buzz" Narbut Gymnasium, the Seminoles are one of four girls teams with at least honorable mention status in their class' respective top-10 polls vying for the Willie Clemons Holiday Classic title. At Bradenton Christian School's gym, the Panthers host both boys and girls fields for the Smoothie King Classic.

Braden River opens the Willie Clemons Classic at 1 p.m. against Orlando Boone. The Smoothie King Classic begins at 9:30 a.m. with the Cardinal Mooney girls battling Brandon. The boys begin at 11 a.m. with the Noles facing Out-of-Door Academy. All three fields, which consist of eight teams each, will hold their championship games Wednesday.

"It really marks a transition. Now basketball is center stage," Southeast boys head coach Floyd Watkins said. "These Christmas tournaments allow the general public to become cognizant of the fact that basketball season is going on."

The Clemons Classic boasts a top-heavy field with three

local teams. The host Seminoles, ranked No. 7 in Class 5A, could meet New Smyrna Beach, the unbeaten No. 7 team in 6A, on Tuesday. On the other half of the bracket, the Pirates (2-10, 0-2 Class 7A-District 11) open against Boone (12-3, 1-1 Class 8A-District 4), an honorable mention in 8A, and Palmetto (9-4, 1-2 Class 7A-11) tips off against Orlando First Academy (11-3), an honorable mention in 3A, at 2:30 p.m.

The Noles' (11-3, 5-1 Class 5A-District 11) tournament begins at 5:30 p.m. against Lakeland Lake Gibson (6-9, 1-1 Class 6A-District 6).

This is the second straight year Braden River and the Tigers are joining Southeast at the Clemons, which is crucial to keeping the tournament viable into 2015. Riverview had long been a staple at the classic before skipping this year's field to host last year's Lady Ram Jam in Sarasota.

"I'm very grateful for Braden River and Palmetto to add local interest a little bit, fans who can help me balance the books because it's not easy to put something like this on," Seminoles head coach John Harder said. "If they were to drop, then I don't know I'd have anybody come to the early games."

Although the Smoothie King doesn't feature the same sort of rankings as the Clemons, it makes up for it with a bevy of local teams in both the boys and girls field. The host Panthers hold the highest ranking in MaxPreps' Freeman rankings among both the boys and girls teams in the field, but have stiff challengers in the form of local teams.

On the boys side, the Noles possess the second highest Freeman ranking followed by Braden River. On the girls, the Cougars are second followed by Bayshore.

The BCS boys open the tournament against Auburndale Triumph Christian Academy at 8 p.m. Bradenton Christian's girls team starts things off against St. Petersburg Shorecrest Prep at 6:30 p.m.

Monday's only meeting between area teams also has last year's Smoothie King winner beginning its title defense. A tournament championship was the highlight of Southeast's .500 campaign a year ago and they are perhaps BCS' toughest competition this year. The Seminoles (6-4, 4-1 Class 5A- 11) start of the tournament with a challenge, though, against Out-of-Door (7-2, 4-1 Class 3A-District 9).

"We want to improve on our performance last year," Floyd Watkins said. "This year there's nowhere to go but down, so we want to at least make it back to the finals and have an opportunity to be a two-time champion."

Either the Noles or the Thunder will face the winner of the 2 p.m. meeting between Braden River (5-2, 1-1 7A-11) and Cape Coral (7-4, 3-3 Class 6A-District 10).

The Bruins (4-7, 2-4 5A-11) and St. Petersburg Dixie Hollins (1-7, 0-3 Class 6A-District 9) round out the slate with a 5 p.m. tipoff. BHS' (5-7, 3-3 5A-11) girls meet Englewood Lemon Bay (4-8, 0-2 Class 6A-10) at 12:30 p.m.

This story was originally published December 27, 2015 at 11:57 PM with the headline "Prep basketball | Holiday tournaments tip off in Manatee County on Monday ."