IN the aftermath of the Christmas celebrations and as a prelude to the second half of the regular season in the new year, the Providence Basketball Club Holiday Classic is all set to tip off today at the CI Gibson Gymnasium.

The tournament, originally designed for senior boys’ teams when it got started 24 years ago and now for the second year including the junior boys, will run through Saturday when the championship games will be played.

Kevin ‘KJ’ Johnson, the club’s president and tournament organiser, said they are excited to be able to host the young basketball players and keep them active and out of mischief during the Yuletide season. “This year we have 16 senior boys’ teams crossed over in four different pools and also we have 16 junior boys’ teams crossed in four different pools as well,” he said.

“It’s a four-day tournament and we are ready and excited to play basketball. After eating all of that ham and turkey and going to junkanoo, the fans can come out and enjoy some high level high school basketball competition.”

The CI Gibson Rattlers, coached by Johnson, are the defending senior boys’ champions, while the DW Davis Royals, coached by Mark Hanna, are the junior boys defending champions.

Johnson, however, doesn’t feel that it will be a walk in the gym for any of the two teams to successfully hold onto their titles.

“I think, especially at the junior level, it’s going to be keen and tough,” Johnson said. “The senior level is always tight, so I’m looking forward to some good competition. May the best team win.

“We have some very good teams entered this year. St George’s is coming down, we also have Blazer Elite out of Grand Bahama and Agape Christian Academy, out of Abaco, will also be in town.”

The teams will play each other in pool play with the top two teams advancing to the playoffs on Saturday before they get to the final four and eventually the champions being crowned this year.

“CI Gibson is the defending senior boys’ champions, but CC Sweeting is always tough, so is Charles W Saunders, the private school champions and St George’s, a very strong team that we will have to definitely look out for.

“In the junior boys’ division, DW Davis is the defending champions, but St John’s usually has a good team, LW Young has a good team this year, so does Prince Will and Teleos. The junior division will be loaded and so whoever comes out on top, they will have to fight for it.”

Johnson said there will be a lot of excitement and fans can come out and cheer on their respective teams at a cost of $3 for each session, which will include a total of about nine games. There will be two sessions per day.

• Here’s a look at the brackets and matches to be played in the Providence Basketball Classic from today through Saturday at the CI Gibson Gymnasium:

Junior Boys’ Division

Pool 1 - DW Davis, Galilee, Queen’s College and Nassau Christian Academy.

Pool II - St John’s, LW Young, AF Adderley and Charles W. Saunders.

Pool III - Agape, SC McPherson, TA Thompson and Freedom Baptist Academy.

Pool IIII - Jordan Prince Williams, ISBET, Teleos and Anatol Rodgers,

Senior Boys’ Division

Pool 1 - CI Gibson A, Blazer Elite, Nassau Christian Academy and Mt Carmel.

Pool II - Charles W Saunders, Government High, Teleos and St John’s.

Pool III - CC Sweeting, Galilee, Doris Johnson and Queen’s College.

Pool IIII - St George’s, CI Gibson B, Jordan Prince Williams and CV Bethel.

Today’s schedule

Session one - 9 am St John’s vs Charles W. Saunders. 9:45 am LW Young vs AF Adderley. 10:30 am DW Davis vs Nassau Christian Academy. 11:15 am Galilee vs Queen’s College. Noon Agape vs Freedom Baptist Academy. 12:45 pm SC McPherson vs TA Thompson. 1:30 pm Jordan Prince Williams vs Anatol Rodgers. 2:15 pm ISBET vs Teleos.

Session II - 3 pm CI Gibson B vs CV Bethel. 4:30 pm CC Sweeting vs Queen’s College. 5:15 pm Galilee vs Doris Johnson.

6 pm Charles W. Saunders vs St John’s. 6:45 pm Government High vs Teleos. 7:30 pm CI G A vs Mt Carmel. 8:15 pm. Blazers Elite vs Nassau Christian Academy. 9 pm CV Bethel vs St George’s. 9:45 pm CI Gibson B vs Jordan Prince Williams.