NEO Elite Christmas Classic features must-see prep clashes
The upcoming December holiday season provides a present for high school hoop fans in the Northeast Ohio.
Garfield Heights High will host the NEO Elite Christmas Classic Dec. 27 and Dec. 28, which will feature some of the top teams in the area.
Garfield Heights, which enters the season with a roster full of Division I prospects, will take on Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary in the premier game of the two-day event at 6 p.m. on Dec. 28. Maple Heights plays Cleveland Central Catholic at 7:45 p.m. that night to wrap up the tournament. Tickets are $10, according to Garfield Heights High basketball coach Sonny Johnson, who announced the games via social media.
The tournament starts on Dec. 27 with the first game of the day between Bedford and Akron Buchtel to tip at 12:45 p.m. Beachwood vs. Crestwood (2:30 p.m.); Padua vs. Massillion Washington (4:15 p.m.); Cleveland Heights vs. Shaker (6 p.m.) and Solon vs. Brush at 7:45 p.m fill out the schedule for the first day of games. The Solon and Brush game could be a classic. Brush features three Division I prospects, led by 6’9” John Hugely (2020) and point guard D.J. Dial (2019). Solon is led by guard Sincere Carry (2018), who was an all-district selection a year ago.
“Those are big-time matchups,” Johnson said of the schedule of games for the two-day hoop invite. “I kept it quiet. I was working on it all summer.”
Garfield’s gym holds approximately 2,300 fans.
Cleveland Heights and Shaker will renew the old boarder war from when the schools were members of the Lake Erie League.
Shaker Heights is led by 6’5” Christian Guess (2018), a D-1 prospect who is on the radar of many mid-majors, including James Madison and DePaul and tore it up the AAU circuit.
Two longtime NEO powers go at in the tip off game Dec. 27 when East Tech faces off against Shaw; Warrensville then plays Euclid, which features standout point guard Garvin Clarke (2020) at 2:30 p.m.; Revere, which features Northwestern-commit Pete Nance (2018) takes on defending state-champion Lutheran East at 4:15 p.m. , and then that highly-anticipated Garfield Heights vs. Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary.
Garfield Heights features Alonzo Gaffney, a 6’9” wing who is one to the best players in the state of Ohio in the Class of 2019. Garfield Heights also features freshman Meechie Johnson (2021), one of the top point guards in the country in his grade, who has already been offered by schools like UNLV and Louisville. St. Vincent-St. Mary features freshman Seth Wilson, who is also highly touted.
“People are going to want to see these games,” Johnson said. “I knew the teams and who was going to be good and who people wanted to see play each other.”