U Save It Basketball Classic begins Friday

For those who cant get enough of high school basketball, this weekend will be an early Christmas gift. Albany High School will host the U Save It Classic, a high school boys basketball tournament featuring a strong lineup of local talent as well as a handful of powerhouse programs across the state.

Archie Chatmon, the Albany High basketball coach, is the tournament director. He says this tournament has a very long history.

“It’s the second oldest tournament in the state,” he said. “It began as a girls and boys tournament for mostly Albany area teams and it was a championship format. In the early ’90s, because of the great boys talent we had in the city, we reformatted the tournament for boys only. We retained the championship format, but made it an invitational tournament.”

In addition to local schools such as Albany, Dougherty, Westover, Monroe, Terrell County and Lee County, this year the tournament will feature Colquit County, Statesboro, Manchester, Southeast Bulloch, North Clayton and Cedar Grove.

“We wanted to bring in the best teams and the best talent out there,” Chatmon said. “We began to bring in teams from out of state as well as an influx of top Georgia teams and talent.”

While there won’t be any out of state teams in the tournament this year, some of the best in-state teams and talent will be on display. Statesboro comes into the tournament at 7-1, while Cedar Grove, an Atlanta area school from Ellenwood, will come in undefeated at 5-0.

“About eight or nine years ago, we changed the format from a championship format to a round robin shootout,” Chatmon said. “In the tournament format, we so often played people we were already playing. We wanted to test our teams against unknown opponents and give our fans opportunities to see our local teams play against teams that are not from this area.”

The tournament gets underway Friday at 4 p.m. with Colquitt County against Manchester, followed by Lee County taking on Statesboro at 5:30. Then the three-game night session begins at 7 p.m with Monroe attempting to hand Cedar Grove their first loss. Westover takes on Southeast Bulloch at 8:30, followed by the late game between Dougherty and North Clayton at 10 p.m.

Saturday’s action begins at 1 p.m. with Dougherty taking on Terrell County, followed by Colquitt County and Cedar Grove at 2:30. Lee County faces Southeast Bulloch at 4, followed by Albany and Manchester at 5:30. The Saturday night session features Westover against North Clayton at 7, followed by Monroe and Statesboro at 8:30 p.m.

After a Sunday break, the teams get back at it on Monday as Monroe takes on Southeast Bulloch at 1 p.m. followed by Albany and Statesboro at 2:30. Terrell County takes on Cedar Grove at 4, followed by Dougherty and Machester at 5:30. The last two games of the U Save Classic feature Lee County taking on North Clayton at 7, followed by Westover against Colquitt County at 8:30.