It is an idea that is finally coming to fruition. The Perryville and St. Vincent boys basketball teams will compete in the “Border War Shootout” this Saturday, Dec. 16 at the Perry Park Center.
The event is the brainchild of former Perryville boys basketball coach Dustin Wengert, who regularly attends the college basketball game between the University of Missouri and the University of Illinois in St. Louis.
“To see the black and gold on one side and the orange and blue on the other is just amazing,” Wengert said in January 2020. “I always wanted to being that type of thing to a high school setting. I put my heads together with some other coaches and sent some emails out and got a very good response.”
The first version of the event was scheduled for 2020, but it was cancelled due to COVID-19. The event will pit five Missouri high school against a quartet of Illinois schools. The Missouri schools are Perryville, St. Vincent, Jefferson R-7, Valle Catholic and Ste. Genevieve, while the Illinois school are New Athens, Chester, Marissa/Coulterville, Red Bud and Sparta. There will be one point given to the state whose team wins each game, with the winning state being named based on number of points/wins.
Last season, Waterloo defeated St. Vincent 45-44 in overtime and New Athens defeated Perryville 60-44. In other action, Valle Catholic defeated Chester 38-35, Ste. Genevieve defeated Red Bud 56-46 and Marrisa/Coulterville beat Jefferson R-7 26-23.
The event replaced the JCAA shootout that Perryville and St. Vincent have played in for the past few seasons. Perryville has traditionally competed in the Chester Invitational Tournament, while St. Vincent had not scheduled an Illinois school for more than two decades.
One week before the event, the five schools from both states ranked each other to figure out which teams will face off. The goal is not to create a sense of a mismatch.
Schedule
10 am - Perryville vs. New Athens
11:30 am - St. Vincent vs. Marissa/Coulterville
1 pm - Valle Catholic vs. Sparta
2:30 pm - Ste. Genevieve vs. Chester
4 pm - Jefferson vs. Red Bud
