Kyle Lovern/WDN

Belfry head coach Randy Casey is shown talking to his team during a timeout last week. Belfry High School will host the 38th annual Mountain Schoolboy Classic Thursday through Saturday.

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Kyle Lovern

Sports Editor

GOODY, Ky. – The 38^th annual Mountain Schoolboy Classic will start Thursday at Belfry High School.

The annual holiday tournament, which was started by the late Burnard Collier, a former Pirate basketball coach, has grown over the years.

High school hoops fans can get their belly full of basketball during the event which runs three days. This year the round robin tourney goes from Thursday, December 27 to Saturday, December 29. There will be six games each day.

The girls are now a part of the show and their portion of the event is dubbed the Mountain Schoolgirl Classic.

The late Tommy Dean Runyon, who was a longtime coach for Belfry, and his successor Raymond Justice, continued the basketball extravaganza through the years. David Hatfield, who came over from Williamson, held the event and now head coach Randy Casey has kept the tradition alive.

Other teams include Tolsia, MaGoffin County, Greenup County, Pike Central and Cordia.

“We are excited about this year’s lneup in the Schoolboy Classic,” Casey said. “We have some quality basketball teams coming in.”

There are teams from both Kentucky and West Virginia. Defending state champion Tug Valley will take on Belfry on Friday night. A team from Cass, Georgia will also be in the boy’s side of the event. They will take on Belfry on Thursday.

Kevin Deskins, the BHS girls coach, is helping run the 3-day high school basketball event.

Longtime Belfry scorekeeper Bennett West has kept the book and helped with the event for several years.

Here is the schedule for the event.

Mountain Schoolboy/Schoolgirl Classic

Thursday:

11:30 - girls game (TBA)

1:00 - Cordia vs. Owen County

2:30- Tolsia vs. Magoffin County

4:15 - Scott, WV vs. Pike Central

6:00 - Belfry vs. Betsy Layne (girls)

7:30 - Belfry vs. Cass, Georgia

Friday:

11:30 - girls game (TBA)

1:00 - Tolsia vs. Cordia

2:30 - Owen County vs. Pike Central

4:15 - Magoffin Counry vs. Cass, GA

6:00 - Belfry vs. Tug Valley

7:45—Belfry v. Buckhorn (girls)

Saturday:

11:30 - girls game (TBA)

1:00 - Cass. GA vs. Owen County

2:30 - Magoffin County vs. Greenup County

4:15 - Pike Central vs. Cordia

6:00 - Belfry v. Tolsia

7:45 - Belfry v. Jenkins (girls)