It’s reaching that time of year. When Christmas dinner is done, presents are played out, and bowl games become boring; it’s time for some classic basketball action in abundance at the Mansfield High School gymnasium.
Starting on Thursday, December 27th the Bill Frye Classic, a high school basketball tournament, will tip-off at Mansfield High School. The 3 day, 20 games schedule will run through to the finals on Saturday, December 29.
The Frye tournament has been a holiday classic since legendary coach George W. Frye hung up his whistle with 400 basketball victories several seasons ago. The 38 year coaching veteran retired as Mansfield’s winningest basketball and baseball coach in 2015. Even before that retirement date, the large scale basketball tournament has honored Frye by carrying his name.
To accommodate team travel, tournament directors Keith Dake and Josh Bryan arranged the bracket so that visiting men’s and women’s teams from the same school could travel together for at least the first round.
Booneville and Arkoma open play on December 27th with the 9:00 AM (for girls) and 10:30 AM (for boys) contests. Waldron and Hackett square off next with games 3 and 4 scheduled for noon and 1:30 PM. Vian verse Magazine set the stage for the early evening contests at 3:00 PM and 4:30 PM. Host Mansfield welcomes Mulberry/PV for the two night cap games starting at 6:00 PM and 7:30 PM.
Day 2 action resumes on Friday, December 28th with another 8 game slate also beginning at 9:00 AM.
The last day, Saturday, December 29th will begin with consolation games for third and fourth place at 10:00 AM. The championship rounds will begin at 1:00 PM for the women and conclude with the men’s finals at 3:30 PM.
