The Skaneateles boys basketball team begins its 2010-11 season on Dec. 10 at home against Jordan-Elbridge. Two days later, it will take on Bishop Ludden – in the Carrier Dome.
That’s not a misprint.
For the first time, high school basketball teams will get a chance to showcase their talents on the same grand stage where Syracuse University’s basketball heroes have held court for three decades.
All of this part of the inaugural Scholastic Holiday Tip-Off Classic, a day-long series of games Dec. 12 that will showcase many of the area’s finest programs.
And Skaneateles will get to start the whole thing, playing Ludden, new to the OHSL Liberty division, in a game that tips off at 1 p.m.
Following that, CBA will meet Fowler at 3 p.m. Then, three-time defending state Class A champion Jamesville-DeWitt (featuring DaJuan Coleman, one of the nation’s top prospects) meets Elmira Southside at 5 p.m. And for the nightcap, defending Section III Class AA champion Cicero-North Syracuse meets archrival Liverpool at 7 p.m.
The ties between SU and high school basketball are not new. Until 2009, sectional championship games (plus some other tournaments and events) were played at Manley Field House before it was converted into an indoor practice facility for the football team.
Skaneateles returns most of its lineup, including Pat Roberts, Kevin Rice, Brandon Barron and Zach Brownlee, from a team that went 16-5 last season before losing a gut-wrenching Section III Class B semifinal to Bishop Grimes in double overtime.
