Boys basketball Holiday tournament time is upon us

Some holiday traditions never get old. Watching “It’s a Wonderful Life” while decorating the tree, singing Christmas carols while sipping hot chocolate.

And high school basketball tournaments.

Lots of them.

First and foremost is the nation’s oldest Christmastime basketball tournament, the Pontiac Holiday Classic, which dates to 1926. Games will tip off Dec. 28 and will be played Dec. 29 and 30 as well.

Joliet West finished fourth in the prestigious tournament last year but was not one of the top four seeded teams at the 16-team event. The Tigers will play Pontiac at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 28. If the Tigers win, they will play the winner of No. 4 seed New Trier and Bloomington at 7:30 p.m. Friday.

Lockport also is in the Pontiac field and will take on No. 3 seed Benet Academy at 10:30 a.m. Thursday, as is Plainfield North, which will face defending champ Simeon at 1 p.m. Thursday.

Other teams in the Pontiac tourney are Oak Park, St. Charles North, Bloom, Danville, West Aurora, Peoria Manual, Curie and St. Rita. Curie is the No. 1 seed, with Bloom No. 2.

Another tournament with a long history is the Jack Tosh Invitational at York, and Bolingbrook, Lemont and Minooka will be taking part in that event, which starts Tuesday.

On Tuesday, all three local teams will play in the Campbell Gym at York. Minooka will take on Riverside-Brookfield at 10 a.m., Bolingbrook plays Nazareth Academy at 3:30 p.m., and Lemont squares off against Wheaton St. Francis at 5 p.m.

The 32-team event also features Lake Forest, Palatine, Lyons Township, St. Patrick, Yorkville, St. Ignatius, Conant, Glenbard North, Hinsdale South, York, St. Laurence, Andrew, Glenbard West, Rolling Meadows, Highland Park, Downers Grove North, Stagg, Wheaton North, Naperville North, Fenwick, Hansberry, Metamora, Glenbard East, Glenbrook South, Downers Grove South and Batavia.

Joliet Central and Romeoville will take part in the 16-team large-school boys bracket at the State Farm Holiday Classic in Bloomington. Joliet Central will play Harlem at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday at Illinois Wesleyan’s Shirk Center, while Romeoville will play at 8 p.m. Wednesday, also at the Shirk Center.

Lincoln-Way Central and Plainfield East will play in the Hinsdale Central Holiday Classic. Plainfield East will play Brother Rice at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, while Lincoln-Way Central has a first-round matchup with DePaul College Prep at 3:45 p.m. Wednesday.

Morris is seeded No. 7 at the 60th Plano Christmas Classic and will take on the host school at 7 p.m Wednesday.

Young stars

Among those showcasing their talents during the holiday tournaments will be some young players who already have posted big varsity numbers.

Freshman Daveon Thompson of Bolingbrook will put his game on display at the Jack Tosh Classic, while Joliet West sophomores Aamir Shannon and Luke Grevengoed have been mainstays for the Tigers so far this season. Junior Jack Walker, a University of Illinois baseball recruit, has been a double-double machine this season and will look to continue his dominance at Plano.