EDWARDSVILLE - One of the area's largest season-opening tournaments is set to begin on Monday, when the Metro-East Lutheran Turkey Tip-Off tournament starts at 5 p.m. at both Hooks Gym and the school's auxiliary gym.
A total of 16 teams, led by defending champion Marquette Catholic, the host Knights, and local teams Roxana, East Alton-Wood River, Piasa Southwestern, Brussels and Valmeyer are entered in this year's field, with all teams guaranteed four games each.
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The tournament starts up on Monday at 5 p.m. in the auxiliary gym, when Litchfield goes up against Gillespie in the first round. Breese Mater Dei Catholic goes up against Brussels at Hooks Gym in a 5:30 start, then at 6:30 in the auxiliary gym, Lift For Life Academy of St. Louis plays against Dupo, while at 7 p.m in Hooks Gym, it'll be Waterloo Gibault Catholic meeting up with Odin. The final two games of the evening start at 8 p.m. in the auxiliary gym, with Southwestern going against Marissa-Coulterville, and the host Knights taking on Centralia's Christ Our Rock Lutheran at 8:30 at Hooks Gym to wind up the opening day.
Play resumes Tuesday evening with the last two first round games, starting in the auxiliary gym at 5 p.m. with Roxana going against Valmeyer, and at 5:30 p.m in Hooks Gym with Marquette meeting up with EAWR. The quarterfinals in both brackets start up at 6:30 p.m in the auxiliary gym, with the Mater Dei-Brussels loser going against the Litchfield-Gillespie loser in the consolation bracket, with the winners of the first two games meeting in the championship quarterfinals at 7 p.m. in Hooks Gym. The second championship quarterfinal tips off at 8:30 p.m. in Hooks Gym, with the Gibault-Odin winner going up against the Lift For Life-Dupo winner.
The third day of the tournament commences at 5 p.m. on Wednesday in the auxiliary gym, when the Gibault-Odin loser meets the loser of the Lift For Life-Dupo game in the consolation quarterfinals, while at 5:30 p.m. in Hooks Gym, the Metro-East-Christ Our Rock loser plays against the Southwestern-Marissa loser in the consolation quarterfinals. The Marquette-EAWR loser plays against the Roxana- Valmeyer loser in the last consolation quarterfinal in the auxiliary gym at 6:30 p.m, while at 7 p.m. in Hooks Gym, the Marquette-EAWR winner plays the Roxana-Valmeyer winner in the championship quarterfinals. The final game of the day takes place at Hooks Gym at 8:30 p.m, with the Metro-East-Christ Our Rock winner playing against the Southwestern-Marissa winner in the final game of the championship quarterfinals.
The tournament takes Thanksgiving Day off, then resumes on Friday with the consolation bracket fifth place semifinals at 11 a.m. and 12:30 p.m in the auxiliary gym, with the consolation bracket semifinals at 11:30 a.m and 1 p.m at Hooks Gym. The fifth place semifinals will be in Hooks Gym, with tip-off times being 2:30 p.m. and 4 p.m., and the championship semifinals going at Hooks Gym at 5:30 p.m. and 7 p.m.
On the final day of the tournament Saturday, the consolation bracket seventh place game takes place in the auxiliary gym at 11 a.m., while the consolation fifth place game tips off at 11:30 a.m. in Hooks Gym. The consolation bracket third place game will be played in the auxiliary gym at 12:30 p.m., with the seventh place game tipping off at Hooks Gym at 1 p.m. The fifth place game takes place at 2:30 p.m. at Hooks Gym, with the consolation final starting at 4 p.m., and the third place game stars at 5:30 p.m, with the tournament championship game starting at 7:30 p.m., all at Hooks Gym.
The tournament promises to be among one of the area's best, and will provide fans with a very good level of play throughout the week.
