St. Pius to Launch 12th Christmas Classic Basketball Tourney

will host the 12th annual St. Pius X Christmas Classic, Dec. 27-29. The tournament features 16 boys’ and girls’ basketball teams from seven states and the District of Columbia and is widely known throughout the nation as one of the premier Catholic high school basketball tournaments.

Since the event's inception, schools from as far north as Maine and as far West as California have participated. Winners of the event are presented with the Monsignor Richard Lopez Trophy; so named after Msgr. Lopez, a teacher at St. Pius since 1980. 

Teams competing in both divisions of the tournament this year are St. Pius, Charlotte Catholic and Pinecrest Academy. Other teams participating in the boys’ division are Brother Martin (LA), Archbishop Carroll (DC), Archbishop Alter (OH), St. Joseph's (SC) and Prince Avenue Christian (GA) while Xavier Prep (LA), McGill-Toolen (AL) St. Hubert's (PA), Oakland Catholic (PA)and Tri-Cities (GA) rounds out the girls’ field.

This year the games will tip-off Tuesday, Dec. 27, with eight games in each gym beginning at 1:30pm and conclude with the final game of the night at 8pm featuring the Golden Lions boys’ team taking on Pinecrest. The girls’ squad will also host Pinecrest earlier in the evening at 6pm. Games on Wednesday, Dec. 28, begin with consolation bracket play at 12:30pm and championship bracket play at 1pm.

The finals of the girls’ bracket will be Thursday, Dec. 29, at 5pm and the boys’ games at 7pm. The third place games for each division will start at 3pm with the fifth-place and seventh-place games at 1pm and 11am, respectively, for both brackets.

In addition to the tournament games, a mass and banquet will be held the night of Monday, Dec. 26, for all participating teams and families. St. Pius also sponsors a dance for the participating schools on Wednesday evening after the games. The participating schools have also attended Georgia Tech sporting events and Atlanta Falcon, Hawk and erstwhile Thrasher games over the years while attending the tournament. 

Tournament passes may be purchased for $12, and single-day tickets are available at the game site for $5. Catholic Metro League of Atlanta basketball players are admitted free if they wear their jerseys. For more information, access the tournament Web page at www.spx.org. St. Pius is located at 2674 Johnson Road, NE, Atlanta, GA 30345.