The Dougherty County High School tournament is the oldest in the state in its 45th year.
This year's field includes all four Dougherty county schools plus other state powers such as Statesboro, Tift County, Southwest Macon and Paxon High from Jacksonville, Florida.
five of the 12 participating teams have won at least one state championship.
The history of this prestigious tournament and its importance to our community are two reasons why WALB decided to step in this week to sponsor this year's tournament when the event's original sponsor backed out.
Dougherty County athletic director Johnny Seabrooks said "After meeting with the basketball coaches and we didn't have a sponsoer, we were at the point where we were still going to provide these sources this year. But this might be a tournament that after this year we might not be able to do anything with it. We are excited about WALB and hopefully next year we can get this back to a 16-team field tournament which brings other quality teams here.
The WALB Holiday Classic starts on December 19th at the Albany High gym. Games continue at Albany High on the 20th before the tournament moves to the Albany Civic Center on Saturday the 21st and Monday the 23rd.
The complete tournament schedule is below.
WALB Holiday Classic Schedule
Thursday December 19th at Albany High
Game 1 Tift Co. vs Albany 4pm
Game 2 Paxon(Jacksonville) vs Dougherty 5:30pm
Game 3 Glynn Academy vs Westover 7pm
Game 4 Sumter Co. vs Monroe 8:30pm
Friday December 20th at Albany High
Game 5 Statesboro vs Game 1 winner 4pm
Game 6 Southwest Macon vs Game 2 winner 5:30pm
Game 7 Bradwell Institute vs Game 3 winner 7pm
Game 8 Martin Luther King vs Game 4 winner 8:30
Saturday December 21st at Albany Civic Center
Game 9 Game 7 loser vs Game 8 loser 1pm
Game 10 Game 5 loser vs Game 6 loser 2:30pm
Game 11 Game 3 loser vs Game 4 loser 4pm
Game 12 Game 1 loser vs Game 2 loser 5:30pm
Game 13 Game 7 Winner vs Game 8 Winner 7pm
Game 14 Game 5 Winner vs Game 6 Winner 8:30pm
Monday December 233rd at Albany Civic Center
Game 15 Loser 11 vs Loser 12 1pm
Game 16 Winner 111 vs Winner 12 2:30pm
Game 17 Loser 9 vs Loser 10 4pm
Game 18 Winner 9 vs Winner 10 5:30pm
Consolation game Loser 13 vs Loser 14 7pm
Championship game Winner 13 vs Winner 14 8:30pm
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