Midseason tournaments kick off across the state next week — and the McLouth Invitational is one of them.

The boys tournament, which is in its 20th year, will start Tuesday with the same field as last year: Delaware Valley League teams Valley Falls, Jefferson County North, Oskaloosa and McLouth, and non-league schools Bishop Ward, Perry-Lecompton, Shawnee-Maranatha and Atchison County.

Heading into Tuesday’s games, JCN was 4-2, McLouth 3-3, Valley Falls and Oskaloosa both 0-5, Bishop Ward 3-1, Perry-Lecompton 2-5, Maranatha 3-3 and Atchison Co. 3-4.

For more on tournament pairings, log on to The Mirror’s Web site, www.tonganoxiemirror.com.

JCN boys 41, McLouth 28

McLouth will be in good shape this season if it can generate some offense.

That’s MHS coach Jason Schroeder’s assessment of his team after Friday’s 41-28 loss to Jefferson County North in the McLouth gymnasium.

“I don’t really know what it was,” Schroeder said. “I think possibly having too long of a break. I think both teams played good defense. More so for us, it was more of a case of missed lay-ups and missed free throws.”

JCN opened the game well, establishing a 12-4 lead after the first quarter.

McLouth bounced back with an 11-4 advantage in the second quarter and trailed just 16-15 at halftime. It was a 16-7 fourth-quarter advantage for JCN, however, that spelled doom for MHS.

JCN shot 39 percent (16-for-41) from the field, while McLouth shot just below 22 percent (7-for-32). From the free-throw line, the Chargers went 7-for-13, while the Bulldogs finished 11-for-20. JCN also out-rebounded MHS, 25-17. As for turnovers, McLouth committed 13 and JCN eight.

“I’m happy with holding a team to 41,” Schroeder said. “We just need to find a way to score more than 28. Again, this is our sixth game and I’ve been pleased with the effort in all six.”

Mark Stewart led McLouth in scoring with nine, while Lance Lamborn and Trevor Keling each scored six.

“Individually, I’d say Mark and Lance had decent offensive games for what they do,” Schroeder said.

McLouth played Tuesday at Wathena and will play Friday in Topeka against Cair Paravel.

JCN girls 30, McLouth 26

Talk about a nail-biter.

In each quarter of Friday’s McLouth-JCN game, one outscored the other by just two points. At half, the game was tied at 12. In the fourth quarter, MHS led most of the way, but JCN came back late for a 30-26 win.

“We watched film last night and I told the girls we were about three plays away from winning the ball game,” MHS coach Keith Miller said. “We’re a young team and we hadn’t been in too many games like that.”

Missy Rome led scoring with 10, while Abby Annis scored eight.

“It was a tight game,” Miller said. “We match up really well together. We always seem to have good battles with it being one of our rivals.”