Don Ketchum
Former Staff Writer, AZPreps365.com

Hoops teams get chance to play at GCU, U.S. Airways Center

December 9, 2013 by Don Ketchum, AZPreps365


There will be an upgrade of sorts for boys and girls basketball teams from Arizona in terms of a larger venue this weekend when one tournament continues at Grand Canyon University in Phoenix and another begins at the U.S. Airways Center, home of the Phoenix Suns, in downtown Phoenix.

The Hoophall Classic West began at various high school sites around the Valley in late November and resumes Friday (Dec. 13) and Saturday (Dec. 14) at the GCU Arena.

Friday’s schedule – 7th place game, Avondale Westview vs. Goodyear Millennium, 4 p.m. Bishop Gorman (Nev.) vs. Orange (Calif.) Lutheran, 5:30 p.m. Yates (Texas) vs. Oak Hill Academy (Va.), 7 p.m. 5th place game, Gilbert Mesquite vs. Scottsdale Desert Mountain, 8:30 p.m.

Saturday’s schedule – 3rd place game, Gilbert vs. Scottsdale Chaparral, 2 p.m. Mater Dei (Calif.) vs. Yates (Texas), 4 p.m. Oak Hill Academy (Va.) vs. Bishop Gorman (Nev.), 6 p.m. Championship, Phoenix Shadow Mountain vs. Tempe Corona del Sol, 8 p.m.

The U.S. Airways Center will be the site of the Hoop It Up at the Arena tournament. It will include boys and girls teams, begin on Saturday and continue Dec. 20, Jan. 20 and Jan. 25. Phoenix Greenway athletic director Jeff Feldman started the event a few years ago and has watched it continue to grow.

Saturday’s schedule – Buckeye Youngker boys vs. Glendale Independence, 9 a.m. Goodyear Desert Edge girls vs. Youngker, 11 a.m. Phoenix Greenway boys vs. Desert Edge, 1 p.m. Glendale Deer Valley boys vs. Glendale Apollo, 3 p.m. Glendale Cactus boys vs. Peoria Centennial, 5 p.m. Chandler Hamilton girls vs. Mesa Dobson 7 p.m.

Friday, Dec. 20 – Phoenix Cortez boys vs. Wickenburg, 3 p.m. Glendale Raymond S. Kellis girls vs. Cottonwood Mingus, 5 p.m. Phoenix Moon Valley girls vs. Greenway, 7 p.m. Phoenix Barry Goldwater boys vs. Moon Valley, 9 p.m.

Monday, Jan. 20, 2014 (for Martin Luther King Day) – Gilbert Campo Verde girls vs. Gilbert Mesquite, 9 a.m. Mesquite boys vs. Campo Verde, 11 a.m. Queen Creek San Tan Foothills girls vs. San Carlos, 1 p.m. San Carlos boys vs. San Tan Foothills, 3 p.m. Phoenix Country Day School girls vs. Scottsdale Salt River, 5 p.m. Phoenix Country Day School boys vs. Salt River, 7 p.m.

Saturday, Jan. 25, 2014 – Cave Creek Cactus Shadows girls vs. Scottsdale Notre Dame Prep, 9 a.m. Notre Dame Prep boys vs. Cactus Shadows, 11 a.m. Glendale girls vs. Sedona Red Rock, 1 p.m. Sedona Red Rock boys vs. Glendale, 3 p.m. Tempe girls vs. Prescott, 5 p.m. Mingus boys vs. Prescott, 7 p.m. Scottsdale Chaparral boys vs. Phoenix Horizon, 9 p.m.