CRESTVIEW — Northwest Florida's holiday break annually brings high school basketball, with teams from across the Southeast visiting for top regional tournaments.
This year is no exception, and Crestview High School’s boys basketball team will play in the Go Southern Beach Blowout at the Arena on Northwest Florida State College's campus. The Bulldogs open tournament play at 4 p.m. Monday against Christian Brothers High School from Memphis, Tenn.
“Going into the tournament, I don’t know a lot about some of the teams,” Crestview Coach George Stakley said. “We open with a team out of Memphis, and I hear they are pretty good.”
MaxPreps ranks Christian Brothers as the No. 2 and No. 61 team in Tennessee and the nation, respectively.
Crestview could see District 2-6A rival Fort Walton Beach in the tournament's second round, which Stakley said could be good or bad.
If the Bulldogs play the Vikings in the Beach Blowout, it could mean the teams will play four times this year.
Stakley said he likes having the tournament on NWFSC's neutral court.
"It’s a really nice arena, and I don’t think anybody has an advantage or disadvantage, because none of us play on that court,” he said. “I think the kids are going to be excited to play in front of that type of crowd and that atmosphere. I think the kids are looking forward to it.”
Stakley has no big agenda for the tournament, other than having his team play well. He said if the Bulldogs can win two games he will be happy. And if they win the tournament, that’s even better.
“We don’t want to peak (in the tournament),” Stakley said. “We want to start getting better each game. Right now, I think we are doing some things better in different games, so we are looking at it like that against different competition.
“Right now, we are playing a few different offenses, tweaking them and getting better like that. If we can just run our offense, that’s what I’m looking forward to: getting better on the offensive end.”
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview boys basketball team faces stiff competition in Beach Blowout