The 24th WOBM Christmas Classic began for many high school basketball players Tuesday when they got to represent their teams and schools at the “Tip-off Brunch” at the Quality Inn of Toms River. This annual event has become one of the highlights and about 250 young men and women put on a very impressive display of eating with most making a couple of trips to the buffet line. Quality Inn General Manager Bob Van Bochove, who hosts the annual brunch reports a record 100 pounds of bacon was devoured along with enough food to feed a small or even large army. The great thing about being a teen-ager is that by the end of practice later in the day they had burned it all off.
Eating is important to the kids but so was the business at hand in which the pairings for the holiday basketball tournament were announced following Sunday’s seeding meeting at Klee’s Bar & Grill in Seaside Heights. That meeting saw the 16 Girls coaches get their business done is about half the time if took the Boys, which is a pretty good indication of what to expect when the 7-day, 54-game tournament begins on December 22nd and 23rd at the Ritacco Center.
St. Rose was awarded the #1 boys seed and will open up with 16th seed Brick, who was the top seed last year and had a very good season before losing their top players to graduation. Central, who has never won the WOBM Classic, grabbed the #2 spot and will face Brick Memorial in the first round. Among other matchups, #3 Toms River North will play Old Bridge and fourth-seeded Point Boro takes on Wall, who shocked the Panthers in the opening round last year on their way to the semifinals.
As for the Girls, Rumson beat Colts Neck in last year’s final and many seem to think a repeat is likely with the two Monmouth County schools returning a host of talented players. That group is headed up by Kate Miller, last years MVP and Colts Neck sophomore Brooke Hampton. Rumson faces Central in the first round with the Cougars playing Monsignor Donovan. 3rd seeded Lacey opposes Toms River South and #4 Shore Regional meets Old Bridge as part of the 8 opening-round games. The pairings and brackets are available by visiting shoresportsnetwork.com
During Tuesday’s breakfast Toms River Regional Schools Superintendent Michael Ritacco was presented with the “Jim Ruhnke Award” for contributions to the tournament, which donates money to college scholarships as well as Big Brothers Big Sisters of Ocean County.
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1 comment:
kevin i dident get to see as maney games as im a custom to but you put together a great torney every year i injoy the games as much as injoy the xmas season itself ,my busness is growing and i hope next year to be in a possision to offer a scholarship check to a girl and boy of your choice in behaf of my busness pnglandscaping@comcast.net
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