12-25-07 BY JACK BULLOCK COLUMBIA - The Columbia-Freeburg Holiday Tournament begins on Wednesday with Civic Memorial getting the top seed and target on its back in the 10-team Pool Play event that is in its 44th year of existence. The Eagles – members of the Mississippi Valley Conference – have a 5-3 mark and are looking at taking home their fourth C-F HT title in five years. Jared Schneider is a 6-foot-4 senior forward who averages 16.5 points and a team-best 5.8 rebounds a game. Six-foot senior guard Caleb Chism is also a double-digit scorers at 10.4 p.p.g. Jared McPherson – a 6-foot-6 senior center – adds 7.5 points a game and 4.8 rebounds a game. Six-foot-four senior Kerry Lorts (4.9 p.p.g., 5.1 r.p.g.) and Lee Tinnon (4.6 p.p.g., 2.1 r.p.g.) round out a very good 3A team that won the Nokomis Thanksgiving Tournament and additional wins over Mascoutah and Triad (twice). Those Triad Knights were seeded second with a 4-4 overall record and have quality wins over Granite City and Breese Central. Both of the CM losses were by a combined seven points. Six-foot-four senior forward Chase Von Bokel tops head coach Sam Drake's team with 17.3 points and 7.1 rebounds a night. Only three other teams have winning records heading into the tournament. Columbia (6-3) hosts this season and head coach Mark Sandstrom has lost to three good clubs - Freeburg, Wesclin and Berkeley (MO.) - with wins over Nashville, Red Bud, Carlyle, Piasa Southwestern, Lebanon and Metro-East Lutheran. Five players are averaging 6.8 points or more per game. Six-foot-six junior center Brad Buettner is putting up 14.3 points a game. Trent Blank has sacrificed some of his scoring this season for the good of the team but is still managing to add 7.9 points a game. Blank is a 6-foot-2 senior guard. John Topliffe - a 6-foot-8 – might be the tallest player in the whole Metro-East area and is scoring 8.9 points a game. Waterloo Gibault started the season slow but the Hawks now stand 4-3 overall. Coach Dennis Rueter has 6-foot-8 junior Michael Hoffman who is ripping down 12 rebounds and 9.7 points so far this season. Austin Nieman is a 6-foot senior (12.8 p.p.g.) is the top gun on the Hawks offense. Five-foot-eleven senior Jon Kovarik (6.7 p.p.g.) and 5-foot-10 senior Ty Schutt (6.4 p.p.g.) are two of the starters. Roxana is 7-2 with both losses to Staunton. The Shells have Brian Elkins is a 5-foot-8 transfer from Oklahoma and Daniel Beatty – a 6-foot-4 junior center. Both are averaging 13 points a game. Michael Rust is third on the team with 12.6 points a game. Alton Marquette (3-3) have a win over highly touted Litchfield. Shane Smith is the top gun for the Explorers with 10.5 p.p.g. Mitch Wuellner (8.5 p.p.g.) and Max Vest (8.3 p.p.g.) are the other scoring options. Coach Dave Gillingham and his Red Bud Musketeers (3-6) have guard Brandon Kunkel who is one of the top scorers in the Metro-East with 24.3 points a game. Freeburg isn't without a chance at defending its title. The Midgets started the season with four consecutive loses but have split their last four games. One of the wins was against Columbia, 67-61 on December 15. David Ruckman is a 6-foot-7 senior center who is averaging 22.1 points and 5.8 rebounds a game for head coach Donovan McMillian. The Lebanon Greyhounds are 4-5 with back-to-back losses to Madison and Marissa-Coulterville in their most recent games. Coach Chad Cruthis has some scoring strength with Blake Wood (16.9 p.p.g.) and Jeremy Moore (12.3 p.p.g.). Winless Waterloo (0-6) has just one double-digit scorers on the Bulldogs squad - Nick Webb averages 16.7 points per contest.