Trojans hope for spark in Hot Springs Invitational

Hot Springs' Nasir Hannah (0) shoots while Mena's Toby Watkins (14) defends at Trojan Arena last season. The Trojans open their season tonight in the Hot Springs Invitational. - Photo by Krishnan Collins of The Sentinel-Record
Hot Springs' Nasir Hannah (0) shoots while Mena's Toby Watkins (14) defends at Trojan Arena last season. The Trojans open their season tonight in the Hot Springs Invitational. - Photo by Krishnan Collins of The Sentinel-Record

Hot Springs will welcome some high quality teams to town starting tonight for the Hot Springs Invitational.

This basketball tournament is a boys and girls tournament spanning Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

"This is year two," Hot Springs head boys basketball coach Antoni Lasker said. "We came up with the idea during COVID with our athletic director Rodney Echols, girls head coach Josh Smith and me. It is just something that we wanted to do where we have 16 of the best teams, eight girls and eight boys teams, coming in here and battling it out to try to win the championship and to prepare for conference."

The Hot Springs boys will host a talented field of competitors including Nashville, Maumelle, Episcopal, Little Rock Christian, Vilonia, Conway and Watson Chapel.

"It is something we are excited about and we are looking forward to it," Lasker said. "We have a bunch of really good teams coming in on the boys and girls side. We have a lot of high-level basketball that's going to get played this weekend."

Certain teams are always dangerous in tournaments.

"I think you can put us up there," Lasker said. "I think we are going to be a sleeper team this year. Not a lot of teams are talking about us. Just based off some of the teams that I have seen, I think they all have the qualities to be dangerous."

Hot Springs will open the tournament with the Trojans' first game of the season against Nashville (0-1).

"Thursday is our first game," Lasker said. "We have made playoff runs since I have been the head coach. I have stayed away from November games because I normally only have a handful of kids in the offseason. The majority of my guys played football and it has been that way since I have taken over."

Hot Springs tips off against Nashville tonight at 5:30 p.m.

The Trojans graduated star 6-foot-7-inch power forward Jabari West, who now plays for George Washington University.

"I am not sure if we can fill those shoes, but we can try to do it by committee," Lasker said. "We have a few guys that we feel like can step up that play his position. Junior Kendall Williams, junior Octavious Rhodes and junior Kalex Kouetcha, we think they are guys that can step up and help out at that role."

Maumelle (4-2) gets to match up with Episcopal (4-1), which should make for an exciting game at 4 p.m.

"Maumelle is a good young team," Lasker said. "So is Episcopal. They both have young guys that can really go and go get buckets. It is going to be entertaining to watch."

Little Rock Christian (2-2) tips off its tournament bracket against Vilonia (4-1) at 8:30 p.m.

"Vilonia is one of the top six teams in the 5A and Little Rock Christian is one of the top teams in 4A," Lasker said. "They have a bunch of Division I talent."

Conway won last year's Hot Springs Invitational, beating Marion 63-60.

Conway (2-2) faces Watson Chapel (3-2) at 7 p.m.

"Conway is coached by Marcus Adams," Lasker said. "They are always going to be a solid team. Under his tutelage in his first year in Conway, they should be pretty good. Watson Chapel is under Jevon Barnes, should hold their own as well."

There are four games each day of tournament play for both the boys and girls tournaments, and the tournament will decide all places one through eight.

"From a guard perspective, junior Tyrell Honey I think will be in a much bigger role this year," Lasker said. "Seniors Nasir Hannah and Derrick Hicks, Hicks is a kid that we got back. He has moved back from New Orleans and we are looking for him to have a big role this year as well."

Multi-sport athletes for Hot Springs including Hicks, Rhodes, and Williams all are stars on the Trojan football team.

"My assistant coach Trey Lenox is an extremely hard worker and he has prepared these guys' bodies in the weight room," Lasker said, "for this grind of a season."

Lasker highlighted his team.

"The guys worked hard in the offseason," he said. "The guys who were there. Hannah and senior Dante Grayer is a kid that we think can do some special things. Honey was in offseason. That is going to be really special. Since we have had our football guys these last couple of weeks, those guys have all stood out in practice as well as sophomore Anthony Lambert and sophomore Kyin Jamerson. We feel like we are going to be able to give some added youth and extra punch out there on the floor."

Even without West, Hot Springs still has some talent on the court.

"The most electric player I have would be Honey," Lasker said. "I think he is going to have a big year and surprise a lot of people with his size at the guard spot and his shooting ability. He has the ability to handle the ball. He is a rather electric player."

The championship game will be in Trojan Arena at 2:30 p.m. Saturday.

"It is a full slate of teams," Lasker said. "Anybody can win and anybody can lose."

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