The
Findlay Prep (Henderson) boys basketball team will participate in the third annual National High School Invitational.
The Pilots (28-3), who are ranked No. 18 in the MaxPreps Xcellent 25 and have not played since Feb. 24, captured the NHSI championship each of the last two years. Findlay Prep is led by McDonald's All-America point guard
Myck Kabongo, who signed with Texas, along with senior guard
Nick Johnson (Arizona).
Findlay Prep will be joined at the tournament by No. 5
Montrose Christian (Rockville, Md.), No. 6
Dwyer (Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.), No. 11
Oak Hill Academy (Mouth of Wilson, Va.),
Winter Park (Fla.),
United Faith Christian Academy (Charlotte, N.C.) and
John Carroll (Bel Air, Md.). One more team will be added to the field for the tournament, which runs March 31 through April 2 at Georgetown Prep in North Bethesda, Md.
Game times and brackets have yet to be announced.
PALO VERDE BASEBALL COACH UNDER INVESTIGATIONThe Clark County School District is investigating an allegation against
Palo Verde (Las Vegas) baseball coach Paul Churchfield that he had a
physical altercation with a player, according to Nevadapreps.com.
CCSD
Police Capt. James Ketsaa told Nevadapreps.com that a police report was
sent to the school district on Thursday and CCSD Detective Mitch
Maciszak confirmed to Nevadapreps.com that the report is a battery case.
As of Monday, Churchfield had not been charged or arrested.
"We'll determine if the case will move forward or not. We will further investigate," Maciszak told Nevadapreps.com.
Multiple
sources told Nevadapreps.com that the alleged incident took place March
11 when Palo Verde suffered a 6-5 loss to Spring Valley (Las Vegas). It
was unknown whether the alleged incident happened during or after the
game.
Churchfield, who is in his sixth season as coach of the
Panthers, did not attend Friday's 12-9 nonleague loss to Green Valley
(Henderson).
"For right now, the coaching staff is all making
decisions," Palo Verde assistant Robert Quesada told Nevadapreps.com
after Friday's game.
The Panthers (2-2) were scheduled to open Northwest League play Tuesday when they hosted Faith Lutheran (Las Vegas).
Churchfield led Palo Verde to the Sunset Region playoffs in each of his five seasons as coach. Palo Verde athletic director Darwin Rost told Nevadapreps.com that he hopes a resolution to the situation will come soon.
David Schoen works at the Las Vegas Review-Journal, and is a former Associate Sports Editor and Turn2 columnist for the Oakland (Calif.) Tribune. You can reach him at bydavid1@aol.com.
