Holiday tournament expands to 68 teams

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      Continuing to grow in prestige and stature in the world of high school basketball, the Las Vegas Holiday Prep Classic, presented by the Las Vegas Review-Journal and Powerade, has been expanded to a record 68 teams while still being played as four separate tournaments.
      With entries from 17 states and Canada, leading the list of teams who have entered are national powerhouses Oak Hill Academy of Mouth of Wilson, Va., and Mater Dei High School of Santa Ana, Calif.
      This year's Classic, scheduled December 18-21 at both Durango and Green Valley high schools, will include three 16-team tournaments and one 20-team tourney: the Las Vegas Millennium Cup, the Las Vegas Gold Cup, the Las Vegas Silver Cup and the Las Vegas Bronze Cup.
      "Our new format has proved incredibly popular to the point that we even added four more teams to bring the total to 68 for this year," said Larry McKay, tournament director and currently the director of athletics for the Clark County School District.
      Nevada and California lead the way with 19 teams each.
      "We are really excited with how well the new format has been received," McKay said. "As a matter of fact, we even have a waiting list, the demand has been so great. Moving to Green Valley High School as one of our tournament sites brings us closer to another part of the valley which helps our tournament attendance."
      Because of the smaller brackets, the overall number of games in the four-day event will still remain at around 115.
      The featured Las Vegas Millennium Cup division includes teams from Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Oklahoma, Texas, California, Louisiana, Arizona and Nevada. Besides Oak Hill and Mater Dei, leading the group are Emmanuel Academy (Durham, N.C.), Parkview Baptist (Baton Rouge, La.). Houston Christian (Texas), Phoenix's St. Mary's, Los Angeles' Fremont and Las Vegas' Bishop Gorman and Durango.
      A four-time Las Vegas Holiday Prep Classic champion (1986, 1992, 1994, 1998), Oak Hill Academy finished 30-2 last season, ranked No. 2 in the nation by USA Today. Mater Dei, the 1995 champion, was 34-2 last year and ranked No. 17.
      From Nevada, a record 18-teams from Southern Nevada will participate. Besides Bishop Gorman and Durango, the Southern Nevada high school teams entered are: Bonanza, Centennial, Chaparral, Cimarron-Memorial, Desert Pines, Foothill, Green Valley, Las Vegas, Moapa Valley, Mojave, Palo Verde, Rancho, Silverado, Valley, Virgin Valley, and Western. Minden's Douglas High School is the only team from Northern Nevada.
      A total of nine former champions are in this year's entry field. Besides Oak Hill and Mater Dei, the other former Class winners entered are: Las Vegas' Chaparral (1977, 1983), Los Angeles' Daniel Murphy (1980), North Las Vegas' Rancho (1985), Cleveland of Reseda, Calif. (1988), Los Angeles' Fremont (1991). Smoky Hill, Aurora, Colo. (Las Vegas Bronze Cup-1999), Phoenix's St. Mary's (Las Vegas Silver Cup-1999)
      Complete historical information along with current data is available on the tournament Web site at www.holidayprepclassic.com.