Eighth edition of Shootout By The Sea set to tip off

John Trussell had a grand plan for the Shootout By The Sea basketball tournament even when it was just an event for boys teams.

Back in 2004, the first year of the tournament, he knew there was room for another holiday tournament Myrtle Beach, even with the Beach Ball Classic having long since established itself for the week between Christmas and New Year’s.

Now in its eighth season, the tournament has grown in interest and competition.

“We kind of originally were keeping it North Carolina vs. South Carolina,” said Trussell, the tournament director and former boys coach at North Myrtle Beach. “Then we started getting some interest from other teams. I get a lot of calls from coaches too late.”

In many ways, the tournament – which begins Wednesday and runs through Friday at North Myrtle Beach High School – runs itself, he said. With primary sponsorships from Buffalo Wild Wings, Jud Kuhn Chevrolet and Century 21 leave Trussell is left focusing mostly on signing teams to play in the event. For this week’s tournament, he had all of the contracts signed before last school year ended.

The teams this week will again have that Carolinas feel. Two North Carolina schools (Hoggard and Covenant Day) have boys teams playing. One from the Tar Heel State, Scotland County, doubled up by bringing both boys and girls squads.

Other boys teams include Woodmont, Nation Ford, Clover, Summerville and, of course, North Myrtle Beach. The North Myrtle Beach girls will be joined by Marlboro County, Sumter, Nation Ford, Clover, South Pointe and South Florence.

Clover’s boys and girls teams both won titles last year.

But simply because the event has gone back to strictly S.C. and N.C. schools doesn’t mean it’s regressed. In many regards, Trussell wants to make it clear that this event isn’t trying to out-do Beach Ball or the accompanying Crescent Bank Holiday Invitational, which it overlaps with for two days.

“We didn’t even want to compete with Beach Ball,” he said. “The teams we’re going to get are not going to be the ones that are invited to that anyway. Not that we’re second class, but we wanted to have a little bit more of a local field.”

Trussell uses his United State Basketball Association ties to shore up that field early. He said a similar approach should have next year’s lineup set in the next few months.

But that’s only his side of the event.

The North Myrtle Beach teams both have goals – long- and short-term – they’d like to achieve in the three-day tournament. Jude Hunt’s girls team is hoping to make a run at Myrtle Beach in Region VIII-AAA starting in January and success in the Shootout By the Sea will only help.

First-year boys coach Frank Moorhead is still attempting to get his group of fresh faces to play as one. On top of Trussell’s resignation, the Chiefs lost six players from last year’s team.

North Myrtle Beach still has a solid group, including Jaquan Grissett, Roderick Hemingway, Davis Trussell, Matt Lindsay and Josh Lindsay. However, Moorhead is looking for a lineup and combination that will, like Hunt’s girls team, give the Chiefs an opportunity.

The next three days could be instrumental in finding that rhythm.

“When you play a tournament, you’ve got to play everybody,” Moorhead said. “Everybody has to do their job. It forces you to play as a team, and everyone has to know what’s going on. It can be a real positive thing in moving forward.”