NATCHITOCHES – Almost 1,000 high school boys basketball players on 80 teams from Louisiana and Texas arrive at Northwestern State's Prather Coliseum Friday morning to begin the two-day Demon Basketball Team Camp.

Each team will play a minimum of five games from Friday morning until Saturday night during the camp, which will utilize 10 different courts, including three in Prather Coliseum.

Games begin at 9 Friday morning and 8:30 Saturday morning, with daylong competition wrapping up after 6 o'clock Friday evening and after 3 on Saturday afternoon.

Along with Prather Coliseum, games will be played at NSU's Wellness and Recreation Center, the NSU Health and Human Performance Building, the Louisiana School for Math, Science and Arts, Natchitoches Central High School and the NCHS auxiliary gym.

Mike McConathy, Louisiana's winningest all-time collegiate basketball coach, is heading toward his 20^th season as the Demons' head coach. The team camp is the biggest in a series of summer camps staged by him and his staff.

"It's a great opportunity to get student-athletes and potential college student to our beautiful campus," he said. "Throughout the year, we reach out to high school coaches, put our best foot forward and invite their teams to this weekend.  Some will eat on campus, some will stay on campus, and most importantly, they'll be spending time in Natchitoches and on our campus and they will experience a taste of what makes our community and our university so special.

McConathy said the massive team camp is only possible with the great assistance provided by many in the community and on campus, and many hours of work by his staff.

"We have so many people to thank for helping make our team camp such an enjoyable and worthwhile experience for the young people coming in here," he said. "Getting to showcase NSU and Natchitoches to so many young athletes, their coaches and their families coming to watch is a very big responsibility. We're very excited about it and have put a ton of work into getting ready. I'm proud of my coaches and staff."

Among schools from north and central Louisiana taking part are Airline, Alexandria Senior High, Atlanta, Avoyelles Public Charter, Benton, Buckeye, Byrd, Calvin, Carroll, Converse, DeRidder, East Beauregard, Faith Training, Glenmora, Grant, Haughton, Hornbeck, Loyola, Mangham, Mansfield, Mandy and Minden.

More north and central Louisiana schools represented are Natchitoches Central, Negreet, Ouachita, Parkway, Pitkin, Plain Dealing, Pleasant Hill, Rapides, Red River, Ringgold, Saline, Southwood, St. Mary's, Stanley,  Red River, Weston, West Ouachita, Winnfield, Wossman and Zwolle.

A complete list of competing teams and game schedule, along with more information, is available at the "Team Camp Info" button on the Demon basketball page on NSUDemons.com.