Neshoba pulls out of tourney

By By Marty Stamper/staff writer
Jan. 22, 2002
from the movie Cool Hand Luke
A change in playing times and opponents has led to Neshoba Central's basketball teams pulling out of the second-annual Broiler Showcase Saturday at Forest High School.
According to Forest's basketball schedule, which was sent out in early November, the Neshoba girls were scheduled to play Forest at 5 p.m. with the Neshoba boys to take on Morton at 3:45. At that time, seven games were scheduled.
A new fax of the day's events sent on Jan. 15 showed eight games scheduled with the Neshoba boys to now play Forest at 7:15 p.m. and the Neshoba girls to take on Choctaw Central in the feature game at 8:30.
Bill Smith, Susan's husband, is now the men's basketball coach at East Central Community College.
Further complicating the issue is the fact that Neshoba and Choctaw Central have not competed in basketball since January 1999 over a seating arrangement dispute at NCHS for a regular season game. Their only meetings since then have been in softball in tournaments at neutral sites.
Forest boys' coach Steve Harber, the event's organizer, said the preliminary schedule was just that.
Harber got Northeast Lauderdale to replace the Neshoba boys. The Trojans entered the week with a 19-4 mark and are 2-0 against Neshoba. A replacement could not be found for the Neshoba girls, leaving Southeast Lauderdale without an opponent.