Basketball heats up this weekend with fall league

Fans who can’t want until November to check out the top West Tennessee high school basketball stars have something that will hold them over until the season starts.

Beginning this weekend and going for five straight weeks, the West Tennessee Fall League will be happening at St. Luke Missionary Baptist Church.

Some of the top talent in the area is expected to play with players like Haywood’s Tristan Jarrett and Dedric Boyd, South Side’s Geordan Reed and Bryce McBride, Middleton’s Tylandrius Parks,Humboldt’s Jarred Walker and Sacred Heart’s Dontae Williamson expected to participate.

On the girls' side, Haywood’s Jamirah Shutes and Wandaryku Young, Dyersburg’s Jani Crawford and Essence Bailey and Lexington’s Brilee Bromley signed up.

Games will begin each Saturday at 9 a.m. and last through 2 p.m. Playoffs will be held Sept. 24 with the championship games on Oct. 1.

The coordinator of this event is Madison graduate Joshua Weeden, and he sees this as a league that will continue to grow over over the next couple of years.

“The purposes of the fall league is to create a competitive atmosphere for 100 basketball players in West Tennessee,” he said in a press release. “I am a product of West Tennessee athletics and coaching AAU basketball. I know that there is unseen talent. Memphis does not have to be the only section of Tennessee that can play basketball. Haywood, Liberty, South Side and Bolivar have proven that.”

The league was open to all high school players, but Weeden made sure to put no more than two players from the same high school on a team.

Michael Odom, 425-9754