The annual Herren Shootout is back — here are the big names expected to play
FALL RIVER — The annual Herren Shootout, the popular and often riveting basketball tournament, has a new home.
Games for the April 5-6 (Friday and Saturday) event will be played at the Kuss Middle School in the city's south end. The shootout had previously been staged, primarily, at the Thomas Chew Memorial Boys and Girls Club. The event features high school and middle school teams, male and female.
Among the Herren Shootout alumni are at least five current or former NBA players, including Cole Swider and Bonzie Colson. Tourney director/founder Mike Herren has said the number of D1 college players from the Shootout is 30 plus and the college scholarship list around 50.
Among the 2024 Shootout's top attractions is Drew Herren, of Portsmouth, R.I., Chris' younger son.
Joson Sanon is another major draw. The Fall River resident, who just completed his third and final season at Vermont Academy, is among the top prep players in the nation and recently verbally committed to the University of Arizona.
Sanon is not the only prep star scheduled to compete.
Ahnay Adams, of New Bedford, the career scoring leader (1,776 points) at Tilton Academy in Tilton, N.H., is on the shootout roster. The now three-time New Hampshire Gatorade Girls' Basketball Player of the Year has committed to a hoops scholarship at the University of Miami. Adams, a dynamic guard, averaged 19.8 points and 7.2 assists per game during her four years at Tilton.
The Herren Shootout, in its 11th year, has downsized from a year ago when it staged 80-plus games at two sites.
“We decided we wanted to get it back to its roots,” said Shootout founder/director Mike Herren. “We want to match up teams and talent with due diligence.”
Such 2024 matchups include a Fall River vs. Wareham boys' high school game (Friday at 9 p.m.) and a Fall River vs. New Bedford boys' middle school game (Saturday at 2 p.m.).
Team Wareham is stocked, Mike Herren reported, with the players who recently took Wareham High School to the Massachusetts Division 4 championship, while the Fall River lineup includes Sanon and Herren.
Herren is doing at least double duty as he will be playing in the Fall River vs. New Bedford middle school game on Saturday afternoon.
Herren just completed a successful season at the Wheeler School in Providence. He was a key contributor as the Warriors won the New England Prep School Athletic Conference Class C Large School championship, scoring a team-second-high 13 points in the 65-61 title game against the Harvey School. In a win over Bancroft, Herren connected for a school single-record 11 3-pointers and scored 40 points.
The nationally acclaimed Boston Amateur Basketball Club is sending both of its teams — 17U 11th grade, 16U 9th-10th grades — to compete on Saturday. The elder BABC crew will lock up with the highly-regarded Rhode Island Elte in a game, Mike Herren noted, chock full of D1 commits/prospects. The younger BABC team will face Brian Rudolph's New Bedford-based LIT (Leaders in Training) team.
Here are just some of the other highly-regarded SouthCoast players scheduled to play in the Shootout:
Durfee: Davontae Stewart, Jeyden Espinal, Jahmier Stephenson, Maggie O'Connell, Maddie Hargraves, Julia Hargraves.
Somerset Berkley: Brendan McDonald, Max Finlaw.
Joseph Case High: Emma Plante.
Tabor Academy: Aidan “The Secret” Smith (formerly of Dartmouth High).
Greater New Bedford Regional: Jai-Ana Silva.
Taunton High: Cali Melo, Jillia Doherty, Taryn Campbell, Chelsea Bousquet.
Apponequet Regional: Kathleen Suneson.
Dartmouth High: Kat Cheesebro.
On Friday, the first game is at 6 p.m., the last at 9 p.m. On a busy Saturday, the first game is at noon, the last starts at 9 p.m. The first two games on Friday will be girls' games. Kuss Middle School is at 52 Globe Mills Ave.
For Shootout information, including updated schedule, check out Mike Herren's Facebook page.
This article originally appeared on The Herald News: Herren Shootout takes place at Kuss Middle School on April 5-6
