Published: January 20, 2007 12:44 am            

Tourney chiefs handle tough conditions

A laurel to the Chisholm athletic department for its handling of the 38th annual Wheat Capital basketball tournament that finally concluded Thursday at Paul Outhier Fieldhouse.

Last week’s ice storm was a disaster for the annual tournament, especially at the gate.

After being rescheduled because of the weather, the tournament championships were played Thursday afternoon in front of a less-than-half-packed gym instead of having standing-room-only crowds the tournament is accustomed to on championship Saturday.

“We don’t worry about that,’’ said Chisholm athletic director John Boeckman about the possible loss of revenue. “When you have to choose between money and safety, we’ll go with safety.’’

Moving the game times made it easier for fans who had to travel more than an hour to get home.

With Blackwell reaching the boys and the girls finals and Perry reaching the girls finals, fans no doubt appreciated getting home earlier.

Road crews did an excellent job clearing off Oakwood Road to Chisholm. Chisholm officials had the parking lot cleared of the ice and snow.

Because of the weather, Frontier — the tournament’s headliner — was unable to come either Wednesday or Thursday. The Mustangs are known for bringing a lot of fans.

With clear weather, Frontier might have attracted some more local fans wanting to see the Mustangs’ uptempo offense.

“That hurts more than anything, because teams lost games,’’ Boeckman said.

Because of all the rescheduling due of the weather and schedule conflicts (seventh-place games were canceled because the Enid JV was going to a tournament Thursday at Rose State, which was canceled), only six of the 16 teams got to play three games.

The gate further was hurt when only one of the big three area teams in the tournament — the Fairview boys — reached the finals.

Chisholm, the host team, lost in the first round of the boys and girls tournament.

Boeckman refused to blame that for any poor gate.

“It’s not like that hasn’t happen before,’’ he said. “You don’t worry about the money part of it. Some years you’re going to do good and some years you’re not.’’

No doubt a Fairview-Alva or a Chisholm-Alva or Chisholm-Fairview matchup in the finals would have attracted a large crowd on a good night.

“It’s just one of those things,’’ Boeckman said. “We’re going to make it through.’’

Just making it through was an accomplishment. Take a look at all the tournaments — including the Westmoore Lady Jaguar Invitational — that weren’t completed.

The boys final went right down to the buzzer, when Fairview’s Dillon Baldwin just missed on a 3-pointer from almost mid-court.

The girls finals went down to the end before Perry beat Blackwell.

“It’s still a great tournament,’’ said official Tom Seng, who played in the tournament for Chisholm in the mid-1970s.

What makes it tough for the Wheat Capital is not having the nearby schools it used to have. The length of travel is one reason why CHS has to be especially safety conscious.



Campbell is a sports writer for the News & Eagle