JC Alexander and Mountain View High School did their part to ensure Clark County would be home to another holiday basketball tournament this year — the inaugural Mountain View Holiday Invite.
Previously, Fort Vancouver High School hosted a tournament, most recently known as the Myron Lawrence Memorial Tournament, led by organizer Ben Jatos and James Ensley, Fort Vancouver’s former athletic director and boys basketball coach.
But when budget cuts in Vancouver Public Schools led to the elimination of Ensley’s position, the two reached out last winter to Alexander, head coach of the Mountain View boys basketball team, which had participated in Fort’s tournament in years past, about keeping the holiday tradition alive.
“They wanted to keep it in the county, they wanted to keep it going and Ensley and I are good friends,” Alexander said. “They reached out, offered it, I talked to my booster club and they said, ‘Let’s go.’”
Thus, the Mountain View Holiday Invite was born. Thursday marked the opening day of the eight-team, three-day tournament at Mountain View High School with five Clark County teams in attendance
Columbia River defeated Evergreen 67-55 in an all-Vancouver matchup to open the day. Union took down Benson of Portland 53-34 and Ridgefield followed suit with a 59-39 win over Shelton.
In the nightcap, fans were treated to a back-and-forth game between the host Thunder and Snohomish, but the visiting Panthers played spoiler in a 63-57 win.
Jack Fournier led Mountain View with 13 points and Tre’von Hughes Farmer added 11 points on three 3-pointers off the bench.
“(We’re) super young,” Alexander said. “They’re learning, they’re growing each game. Again, it’s a home game for them. We get to have our fans, our students that are still around. … They love home games.”
Staying close to home for the holidays has its perks for area basketball programs.
Instead of flying out of state or taking a long bus trip to fill out a holiday schedule, Fort Vancouver’s tournament appealed to several local teams like Mountain View for its proximity and quality games against a mix of local and regional competition.
“It means a lot,” Alexander said. “It’s hard, especially financially, for everybody to get places, so, to have something that’s here (in Clark County), something for the community, something that they’re all able to come out and watch and save money.”
In addition to his role as Mountain View’s head coach, Alexander learned the job tournament organizer can be tricky when putting together a field of teams.
Out-of-area teams Weed (Calif.) and Sandpoint (Idaho), coached by former Heritage High coach Brian Childs, were slated to be part of this year’s group but both dropped out months ago.
In addition the five Clark County schools, the tournament was filled out with fellow Washington schools Shelton and Snohomish, while Benson made the trek across the Columbia River from Portland, continuing its multi-year run that began with the Fort Vancouver tournament.
“I really scrambled. It was hard to fill,” Alexander said.
While it was too early for Alexander to say what could be in store for future years, year one of the new-look Mountain View Holiday Invite gives Clark County more holiday basketball while the Thunder get to showcase their school and raise funds for the athletic program in the process.
“It’s fun,” Alexander said. “I’m an alum, so I get to bring a tournament back home, and selfishly, we get to make a little bit of money in the pockets.”
COLUMBIA RIVER 67, EVERGREEN 55 — Columbia River erupted for 26 third-quarter points to down Evergreen in the opening game of the Mountain View Holiday Tournament.
Half of River’s 26 third-quarter points came from Luca Phillips when he scored 13 of his team-best 18 points in the third.
Aaron Hoey added 12 and Ari Richardson chipped in 10 for the Rapids, who face Union on Friday in the tournament semifinals. Three of the four semifinalists are Clark County teams (Columbia River, Union, Ridgefield).
Dez Daniel led Evergreen with a game-best 20.
UNION 53, BENSON (Ore.) 34 — Nick Burchett’s 14 points and 12 from Drew Hill helped Union to a 19-point victory over the Techsters of Portland at Mountain View.
Kody Holcomb added 10 for Union, which faces Columbia River on Friday.
Robert Acelar led Benson with 14.
RIDGEFIELD 59, SHELTON 39 — Jamison McCann’s game-high 36 points lifted the Spudders to a 20-point victory over the 3A Highclimbers at Mountain View.
McCann had 16 of Ridgefield’s 20-first quarter points. Ridgefield led 40-21 at halftime.
Jack Hughes added 12 for the Spudders, who face Snohomish in their semifinal on Friday.
