Two Prairie City grads compete in All-Star basketball series

Published 2:00 pm Tuesday, July 23, 2019

Two Prairie City boys basketball athletes competed in this year’s 1A Seniors All-Star Series basketball tournament June 28-29 at Sisters High School.

Levi Burke and Syd Holman, recent graduates of Prairie City High School, were on the High Desert and Old Oregon league combined team coached by Shane Rivera.

Rivera, who coaches the 2019 State Champion Nixyaawii Golden Eagles, was named 1A Coach of the Year.

Sam Workman, the Prairie City Panther head coach, was assistant coach to Rivera for the All-Star competition.

The tournament is arranged by the 1A Oregon Basketball Coaches Association, and most years coaches whose teams competed at state are selected to coach the series.

Rivera said each team at the tournament was comprised of athletes from two leagues in the 1A class, with four teams total.

The teams competed on June 28, then winners played on Saturday and a consolation match was also held.

“We won Friday night then lost a close game (on Saturday),” Rivera said. “It was a good contest.”

He said Saturday’s game was against the Big Sky league and a Portland area league.

Rivera had one of his Nixyaawii players in the mix, Deven Barkley. Rivera said they had a young Golden Eagles team this year with only two seniors.

Commenting on the Prairie City players, he said Burke and Holman are “both excellent players.”

“Syd’s really athletic and an amazing defender, and Levi is a talented scorer and defender,” Rivera said.

Burke and Jordan Valley Mustang Zeke Quintero were both chosen from Rivera’s group as first team all-stars of the tournament.

Burke was recognized as this year’s Oregon 1A Player of the Year.

“It was fun,” said Rivera. “They’re good kids and easy to coach.”