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Southwest Missouri basketball scene gathers to celebrate life of Rob Yanders

Standing on the sideline watching dozens of kids of all ages play a game that brings everyone together, Craig Smith couldn't help but smile.

It had been difficult for Smith to smile in recent days but he couldn't help it then. He had lost one of his best friends the week before but what he was watching was too beautiful for him to express the pain that had been eating at many across southwest Missouri over the last week.

"Everyone's here for one reason — it's only excellence," Smith, a coach at The Basketball Movement gym, said.