Five area boys basketball teams, including four ranked by the The Bee, will play in today's opening round of the five-day, 12-team St. Hope Elite Classic at Sacramento High School.
The tournament also features four Southern California teams and two from the Bay Area.
In tonight's matchups, No. 6 Pleasant Grove (4-0) plays No. 15 Kennedy (3-1) at 4:30 p.m., No. 10 Foothill (5-2) and UC Santa Barbara signee Michael Bryson face Analy (3-3) of Sebastopol at 6 p.m., and No. 3 Sacramento (2-2) plays Grant (2-4) at 7:30 p.m.
"This is something we've been wanting to do for some time," said Sac High coach Derek Swafford. "We always want to play the best and showcase our school, and this gives us and other local teams a chance to do it without having to travel so far."
Two of Swafford's Dragons, seniors Erik Kinney (Cal State Bakersfield) and Darius Graham (UC Davis), have signed letters of intent, and Kinney is coming off a 33-point performance in Sac High's 77-42 win over Dublin on Saturday in the Gridley tournament.
The St. Hope tournament continues Wednesday with Pasadena (2-2) vs. Foothill (6-0) of Palo Cedro at 5:30 p.m., Bakersfield (6-3) vs. Compton (3-1) at 7 p.m., and Dorsey (1-1) of Los Angeles against Kennedy of Richmond (1-5) at 8:30 p.m.
Pasadena is ranked No. 12 in the Los Angeles area and Compton No. 24 by the Los Angeles Times.
The tournament will continue at 1 p.m. Thursday with six pool-play games and at 1 p.m. Friday with six bronze-, silver- or gold-bracket games.
Finals will start at noon Saturday, with the gold-bracket championship game set for 8:15 p.m.
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