Hiland High School will host the "Classic in the Country" during Martin Luther King Jr. Weekend (Jan. 17-19) while North Canton Hoover will host the "Hoover Company Prime Time Showcase", which will feature many of the top boys' basketball teams in Ohio that same weekend.

Dover and Hiland will both be represented on the boy's side in Canton while the host Hawks, West Holmes, Fairless, Dover and River View will join the seemingly endless amount of talent that will take to the court at the Perry Reese, Jr. Community Center.

Both events will benefit The Perry Reese, Jr. Memorial Scholarship Foundation, making the event even more special for area participants.

"Anything with Perry Reese I would like to be associated with and I'm honored that our program is involved with this weekend," Dover boys coach Bob Von Kaenel said.  "He was a great friend of mine and a great person; really a classy guy."

West Holmes girls' basketball coach Matt Voll echoed Von Kaenel's sentiments.

"I do remember my first time seeing him (Reese) as a coach and it was back in '92 when they beat my alma mater, Marion Pleasant in a regional final game that I attended as a fan from Pleasant and walked away as a fan of Perry Reese Jr.

"I had no concept of Holmes County and I had no concept of what the background was, I just saw a coach who, everytime a kid walked onto the floor, it was 100 percent and it was one of those reasons that I'm excited about being in the profession of basketball."

Hiland girls' coach Dave Schlabach, one of the people who is spearheading the preparation for the weekend, said that it's important to keep the memory of Reese going after his death two years ago.

"Any opportunity that we can have to keep his story alive and to promote something that he thought was very important, which was the scholarship fund, we're going to do," Schlabach said.  "He was a gentleman who changed our area forever.  What he did didn't have to do with wins and losses.  He showed how one person could change an area and a community if you do the right things."

Dover girls' basketball coach Jared Hall said that with both Tornado programs getting involved with the tournament, it is something for the community to rally around.

"I think it's a great thing for the community with the boys' team on the boys' side and the girl's team on the girls' side," Hall said.  "It's a great thing for Dover because you're going to be able to go see the girls in the morning at Hiland and then be able to drive to Canton in the evening to see the boys play."

The girls' tournament begins at 10 a.m. on Saturday and ends at 8:30 p.m. on Monday.  Dover is the first area girls' team that will take the court as they face Dayton Dunbar at 11:45 a.m. on Saturday.

Hiland will rap up Saturday's events with an 8:30 p.m. game against Maria Stein Marion Local.

Fairless will open up play on Sunday against Cleveland Villa Angela-St Joseph's at noon while West Holmes will face Dayton Dunbar at 5:15 p.m.

On Monday, River View will face Olentangy Liberty at 3:15 p.m. and Hiland will close the weekend out with a game at 8:30 p.m. against Copley.

The girls' tournament features 33 teams while the boys' will have 24 teams.

On the boy's side, Dover will face Division I Glen Oak at 6 p.m. Saturday and Hiland will face Sebring McKinley at 2 p.m. on Monday.

Dover boys' basketbal senior guards Todd Lisowski and Jeremy Ady were both in attendance at Wednesday's press conference and both could feel the excitement as they were surrounded by other top players in the state.

"I thought it was going to be just another tournament but it's a lot bigger than I thought it was going to be," Lisowski said.  "With all of these great girls' teams and the great competition for the boys, it's going to be a lot more competitive than I originally thought it was going to be.  It's exciting and I think that it's going to get even better in years to come."

Ady agreed.

"I'm really excited.  We like to play new teams because non-league games are very important to us to get experience against teams that you don't see.  We want to prepare for the tournament and this is a great opportunity to play good teams."

Dover junior Natalie Miller added that it's a great opportunity for the girls' program to show that they are an up-and-coming team.

"I think that Dover has tried to get a better schedule to prepare us and see how we're doing with some of the best teams," Miller said.  "We want to prepare for the tournament and I think it's going to be some good competition and it will increase everybody's level of playing on our team.  We're all excited abou the chance to play against Dunbar."

Hall in his first year at the helm of the Tornadoes' program, agreed with one of his star players.

"I think people are starting to recognize now that we're building something here at Dover," he said.  "The boys' team has always been known for its success and now I think that people are starting to take notice of the girls' side of things."

The girls' shootout has been at Pickerington in the past but Tom Jenkins, General Partner of "Ohio Girls Basketball Magazine", said that the social cause of the Perry Reese, Jr. Memorial Scholarship drew his interest to Berlin.

Schlabach has worked well with "Ohio Girls Basketball Magazine" in his 13 seasons at Hiland and he said that while working hard with Jenkins and his staff, he is seeing the excitement building.

"It started a year ago with the planning stages and it's been a tremendous amount of work from my staff and our administration at Hiland to get it ready but boy, it just seems like things are getting done and the energy of it is starting to heat up and people are getting really excited."

Schlabach added that the impact on the community is another exciting aspect of the weekend.

"I'm excited just for the economic impact it's going to bring to our community," he said.  "We have a lot of businesses that support our girls' basketball program throughout the year and when you bring in those kinds of numbers over a three-day period it's going to make an impact."