hoops season to tip-off with seymour jamboree

Seymour High School will help a handful of area prep teams tip off the much-anticipated 2007 hoops season by hosting the Seymour Basketball Jamboree on Nov. 12.

This year’s event will mark the fifth straight preseason jamboree that has been held at Seymour High School. As in past years, the proceeds generated from admission and concessions will go toward the family of Dennis Berrier, the former Seymour High School assistant basketball coach who passed away on August 11 after a long and courageous battle with cancer.

Berrier inspired everyone associated with SHS basketball, particularly his players, with his unrelenting drive and desire to play a role in the lives of young people and help teach them crucial life lessons via the game of basketball.

Jamboree organizer Bruce Wilson, the principle at nearby Wearwood Elementary, said the any additional donations will be accepted on behalf of Debbie Berrier, Coach Berrier’s wife, to help with any incurred expenses that might still linger.

A total of 12 area high school basketball teams, both boys and girls squads, will take the court for the first time of the season in front of an audience.

The ever-popular slam dunk contests and three-point contests will be held again this year at the halfway point of the night’s activities, at approximately 7:20 p.m.

The action will begin at 6 p.m. with the Sevier County boys facing The King’s Academy Lions. The two school’s girls’ teams will take the court following the boys game for a rare meeting between the Smoky Bearettes and the Lady Lions.

The Gatlinburg-Pittman Highlanders will face The King’s Academy Lions at approximately 6:40 p.m. with the Lady Lions and the Lady Highlanders to follow.

After the slam dunk contest and three-point competition, the Pigeon Forge Tigers will be in action for the first time under first-year head coach Jonathan Shultz when they face Berean. The Lady Tigers will line it up against Berean directly following the boys’ game.

And finally, the jamboree host Seymour Eagles will be led onto the court by their lightning rod of a head coach Randy Moore at approximately 8:30 p.m. to face Berean. Moore will then stay in his seat at the end of the home team’s bench and direct his Lady Eagles against the Berean girls in the final scrimmage of the evening.

All games will last for one quarter—eight minutes—and use typical high school basketball rules.