The New Athens Yellowjackets won the annual Chester Invitational Tournament for the 10th time in the 48 year history of the oldest boys' basketball tournament in southern Illinois.

In the championship game, the Yellowjackets defeated Cahokia Conference foe Marissa-Coulterville 54-46.
The championship game was the fourth and final game of a full day of basketball at Daniel Colbert Memorial Gym which wrapped up two full weeks of basketball tournament hosted by Chester High School.

In the first game of the day, the Valley Park, MO Hawks raced out to a huge first half lead and defeated Dongola 69-28 for seventh place.

The Hawks raced out 22-2 after the first quarter and led 35-4 at the intermission after outscoring the Demons 13-2 in the second quarter.

Valley Park led 61-17 heading to a continuous fourth quarter clock.

Majuan Bates led the Hawks with a game high 21 points.  Josh Ramsey finished with 18 while Ben Herbst tossed in 16.

Tyler Thompson, Tyler Eddleman and Darin Gibson each scored six points to lead Dongola.

The Demons set a new tournament record for least points in three games.  The old record was set in 2001 by Ste. Genevieve, MO with 115 points.  Dongola only scored 87 points in three games this year.

The Chester Yellow Jackets improved to 5-10 on the season with a 74-49 decision over the Elverado Falcons in the consolation final.

The Yellow Jackets led start to finish, jumping out to a 21-13 lead after the first quarter and then pushed their lead to 47-26 at halftime after outscoring the Falcons 26-13 in the second quarter.

The Yellow Jackets led 70-39 heading to the fourth.  Chester Coach Robert Bell played the JV team in the final eight minutes of the game which was played under a continuous clock.

Zach Lochhead led Chester with a game high 21 points.  Aaron Grah tossed in 15 points while MJ Hamilton finished with 12.

Darin Porter led Elverado with nine points.  Kyle Kempfer finished with seven while Bryce Mathis and Ben Kempfer each had six points.

Following the conclusion of this game, the 2010 Chester Invitational Tournament Cheerleading Trophy was presented to the host CHS Cheerleaders.

Making their first appearance in the Chester Invitational Tournament, the Valle Catholic Warriors of nearby Ste. Genevieve, MO, left Chester Saturday night with the third place trophy after beating Saxony Lutheran of Jackson, MO 50-36.

Saxony Lutheran led 9-7 after the first quarter but the Warriors took the lead at halftime.  Valle Catholic outscored the Crusaders 15-10 in the second to lead 22-19 heading to the locker room.

The Warriors extended their lead to 10 points after outscoring Saxony 15-8 in the third and took a 37-27 lead to the fourth quarter.

Jared Bruns and Michael Loida led Valle Catholic with eight points each.  Jason Blum, Garrett Koch, and Christian Moulton each finished with six points.

Brayton Klaus led Saxony with 13 points while Trevor Mabuce finished with 11.

In the championship game, a vocal crowd watched the New Athens Yellowjackets defeated the Marissa-Coulterville Meteors 54-46 to win the 48th annual Chester Invitational Tournament.

New Athens led 13-8 after the first quarter but the Meteors roared back.  Marissa-Coulterville outscored the Yellow Jackets 14-9 in the second quarter to send the game to the locker room tied at 22-22.

A back and forth battle between the two Cahokia Conference teams entertained the large crowd inside Daniel Colbert Memorial Gym in the third quarter.  When the dust settled, the Yellow Jackets held a 32-30 lead heading to the fourth.

New Athens outscored Marissa-Coulterville 22-16 in the fourth to win the championship 54-46.

Tyler Womack led New Athens with a game high 16 points while Vince Kiefer finished with 15 points.  Cody Gaubatz added 11 points in the winning effort.

Marissa-Coulterville was paced by Cody Mahan's 12 points while Mike Lloyd finished with nine points.

After the team trophies were handed out, the 10-member All Tournament Team was announced.  The team includes Mike Lloyd and Casey Pitchford of Marissa, Zach Lochhead of Chester, Michael Loida of Valle Catholic, Elverado's Kyle Kempfer, Brayton Klaus of Saxony Lutheran, Tyler Womack of New Athens and Josh Ramsey of Valley Park.  As voted by coaches and members of the media the 2010 Chester Invitational's Most Valuable Player is Vince Kiefer of New Athens.