This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
A boys' prep basketball tournament being touted as the largest-ever midseason tourney in the state kicks off Friday.
The Riverton Holiday Tournament consists of 16 local teams whose varsity, JV and sophomore squads will combine to play 96 total games over four days.
"It's the biggest tournament ever done in Utah other than the state tournament," said tournament director Rob Geertsen, who started the event at Jordan last year, when he was the Beetdiggers' basketball coach.
The event is a true tournament format, which Geertsen said is a necessity for teams looking to avoid a hangover coming out of the holiday break.
"Having coached 17 years myself, I always felt like coming out of that Christmas break was really tough," he said. "It felt like you needed conditioning again, like in November. But with this, you stay in the swing of things so Christmas doesn't interrupt you. Being in a tournament is a game-ready experience."
The tournament runs Friday and Saturday and resumes for Monday and Tuesday after a break Sunday. —
Friday's varsity schedule:
At Riverton
10:15 AM — Skyline vs. Kearns
12:00 PM — Layton vs. Taylorsville
1:45 PM — Northridge vs. Hunter
3:30 PM — Timpanogos vs. Morgan
5:15 PM — Spanish Fork vs. Summit Academy
7:00 PM — Riverton vs. Cyprus
At Juan Diego
5:15 PM — Timpview vs. Jordan
7:00 PM — Juan Diego vs. Murray