By BY BRUCE HIXON – SPORTS EDITOR
The T.R. Miller Tigers basketball team has drawn a first-round matchup against the Jay, Fla. Royals in the opening round of the Bank of Brewton T.R. Miller Holiday Tournament.
The T.R. Miller-Jay game is the last of four first-round games that will be played on Dec. 28 and will tip off at approximately 7:30 p.m.
Play will start at 3 p.m. that day when Monroe County squares off against Flomaton. The other game in the top half of the bracket will start at 4:30 p.m. and will feature J.F. Shields and Mobile Christian.
T.R. Miller and Jay are joined in the bottom bracket by Northview, Fla. and Excel. Those teams will square off at 6 p.m.
While T.R. Miller has gotten off to a 2-1 start so far with a pair of victories over Northview and a loss to UMS-Wright, Jay has also gotten off to a 2-1 start. The Royals beat Flomaton and lost to Pensacola Christian Academy. Prior to Tuesday's game at Northview, the Royals most recent contest was Friday's 57-43 home win over Central of Allentown. Central entered that game 6-0.
Semifinals in the consolation and championship bracket will be played Dec. 29.
The Monroe County-Flomaton/Mobile Christian-J.F. Shields losers will play at 3 p.m., while the Excel-Northview/T.R. Miller-Jay losers will battle at 4:30 p.m.
The Monroe County-Flomaton/Mobile Christian-J.F. Shields winners will play at 6 p.m. followed by the Excel-Northview/T.R. Miller-Jay winners at 7:3 p.m.
The tournament concludes Dec. 30 with the consolation bracket third place game at 3 p.m., the consolation championship at 4:30 p.m., the championship bracket third place game at 6 p.m. and the overall championship game at 7:30 p.m.
Last year the tournament expanded to 16 teams with an eight-team large school bracket and an eight-team small school bracket. Booker T. Washington beat Niceville, Fla. for the big school bracket championship, while Culleoka, Tenn. beat Excel for the small school division crown.
The tournament has gone back to its original eight-team bracket tournament format this season. Monroe County and J.F. Shields are carryover participants from last year's big school division. J.F. Shields opted to participate in the big school division last year even though it is a Class 1A school.
Jay, Northview, Flomaton, Excel and T.R. Miller are carryovers from the small school division.
The only newcomer in this year's tournament is Mobile Christian, which is in its first year of competition in the Alabama High School Athletic Association. Mobile Christian had formerly competed in the Alabama Independent School Association.
Daily admission will be $5.