By ADAM KUJAWSKI, Staff Writer
The 69th annual BISD Classic varsity boys basketball tournament tips off at 6 tonight at various schools throughout Brownsville and will run through Saturday.
A total of 12 teams will compete in this year’s tournament, with the Pace Vikings playing host for all games played Friday and Saturday.
The teams will be separated into four pools consisting of three teams each, with each team playing one another before being seeded into the tournament bracket.
“I thought I paired up the groups evenly so we could have a competitive tournament and definitely a competitive championship,” Pace coach Jose Luis Ramirez said. “We wanted the tournament to be as competitive as it could be, and so far we’ve had a lot of positive feedback from the other coaches that say it looks pretty balanced.”
Pool A will comprise the host school along with Hanna and St. Joseph Academy .
Rivera and Harlingen High will be in Pool B with Hidalgo , and McAllen Rowe will share Pool C with Brownsville Veterans Memorial and Lopez.
Rounding out the tournament in Pool D will be Los Fresnos, Porter and Kingsville .
Pace will open at home against Hanna tonight, and based on what Ramirez has seen, he thinks his team can compete with anybody.
“(This team) is probably the hardest working bunch I’ve had in a long time,” he said. “They are very experienced. We have eight returners, four of which are starters.
“I think the surprising difference for us this year is that it’s not one guy or two guys you need to worry about, it’sseven or eight that are just as capable of being on the floor.
“We had a couple good scrimmages and, like anything else, you hate to count your chickens. We thought we were going to be good, we just hadn’t really seen it, but when the game came and they started to play as hard as they did, it was comforting to know that they had been listening and all that sweat and all that work came together.
Pace plays again at 10 a.m. Friday against St. Joseph, and Bloodhounds coach Sam Lucio is excited to see how his team stacks up against experienced competition.
“Pace and Hanna are both going to be tough,” he said. “We’re going to look to improve and execute better on defense.”
Other action today will include Rivera playing host to Harlingen High, McAllen Rowe traveling to Brownsville Veterans and Los Fresnos playing host to Porter.
Adam Kujawski covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him at (956) 982-6663 or via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @adamkujo1.