Jewell of a tournament: Holiday Classic brings high-school basketball’s best together again
It’s always one of the highlights of the holiday season for the high-school hoops junkie. In 33 games over four days, those hoops devotees can watch some of the best teams in the Kansas City area compete in the William Jewell for the Holiday Classic Basketball Tournament.
The 37th edition of the Holiday Classic took place last week at William Jewell’s Mabee Center, and it once again featured 24 teams from all over the area competing in three different divisions. The most devout fans could see games tip off at 9 a.m. and stay until the final buzzer of the final games more than 12 hours later.
A highlight of those 33 games was the Patterson Division final, where Park Hill rallied in the second half to gut out a 58-54 victory over Raytown. Park Hill, 10-0, trailed by four at halftime and by two at the beginning of the fourth quarter before mounting its late comeback.
St. Joseph Central won the Cardinal Division by holding off a gritty North Kansas City squad 52-47, and Lee’s Summit West took the Nelson Division by rolling over Blue Springs 71-48.
This story was originally published January 2, 2017 at 10:42 AM with the headline "Jewell of a tournament: Holiday Classic brings high-school basketball’s best together again."