The 41st annual Clester Harrington Shortgrass basketball tournament begins Thursday at Cletus B. Street Fieldhouse.

It promises to be a balanced field with a defending state and several ranked teams in the field.

Oklahoma City Centennial, the two time defending state champion and the top ranked team in Class 3A is in the field. Defending champion, Lawton Eisenhower, rated 7th in Class 6A and Lawton MacArthur, ranked fifth in 5A will be strong contenders for the title. Two home schools Dallas HSAA, who recently had an impressive win over highly regarded Midwest City Carl Albert, and Houston HCYA, last year’s runner up could also challenge. Altus, ranked 19th and Chickasha, 17th in Class 5A plus Duncan round out the field.

The first game tips off at Cletus B. Street Fieldhouse at 3:30 p.m. Kevin Harrington’s MacArthur Highlanders will face Chickasha in that one. The second game has Bruce Harrington’s Lawton Eisenhower Eagles going against Duncan. At 6:30 p.m. Houston HCYA and Dallas HSAA play. The final game has the Altus High Bulldogs playing Centennial.

Consolation games are slated for 3:30 p.m. and 5 p.m. Friday. Semifinals are set for 6:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. also Friday.

Four games are slated for Saturday with the championship game scheduled for 5:30 p.m.