Saturday’s Battle at the Boards begins Boardwalk Basketball Classic

The Boardwalk Basketball Classic, arguably Cape May County’s largest sporting event of the year and the largest single-venue coed high school basketball tournament in the country, is set to begin on Saturday.

The event’s Battle at the Boards showcase event, sponsored by Crest Savings Bank, will begin the six-day basketball extravaganza at the Wildwoods Convention Center.

The Battle at the Boards features eight showcase games, many of them featuring teams from Cape May County. Four games will be played on each of the center’s two courts.

Action begins on the girls side at 12:30 p.m. when Wildwood Catholic takes on Bridgeton. Later, at 3:45 p.m. Wildwood will face off against Lower Cape May in a game that will be broadcast live on 106.3 FM The Shore radio, In the final girls game, Middle Township will face Atlantic City at 5:30 p.m.

Two out-of-area girls teams, Millville and Gloucester Catholic, will play at 2 p.m.

Battle at the Boards boys action begins at 1 p.m., with Egg Harbor Township facing Cumberland.

The remaining boys games all have local flavor, beginning with Ocean City taking on Burlington City at 2:30 p.m.

The event on the boys side will conclude with a doubleheader that features all of the original “Big Four” teams – Middle Township will face Lower Cape May at 4:15 p.m. followed by Wildwood vs. Wildwood Catholic in the Andrew Alameno Memorial Boys Island Championship Game. Those two games will be broadcast live on 98.7 FM The Coast radio.

The Boardwalk Basketball Classic will take a two-day break for Christmas Eve and Christmas before returning for five straight days beginning Tuesday, Dec. 26. All six Cape May County high schools, as well as dozens of other schools from throughout South Jersey, other parts of New Jersey and neighboring states, will participate in a variety of four-team, two-game brackets over the course of the tournament.

Proceeds from the event go toward college scholarship money for the graduating seniors at Wildwood and Wildwood Catholic high schools, the two host schools of the event.

For further information about the Boardwalk Basketball Classic, log on to www.bbclassic.com.

— Brian Cunniff