But that’s nothing new to the Logan High School boys’ basketball which seems like it will play all-comers at any time and at any place.
The Wildcats, 6-1 and ranked No. 2 in the state in Class AAA, will have their hands full in the King Coal Classic, Logan’s new home tournament, which debuted last season.
Logan is scheduled to play Pinewood Prep (S.C.) on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. in its first tourney action, then will turn around and play Princeton Day Academy (Md.) on Friday at 7:30 p.m. in its second and final King Coal Classic contest.
The Wildcats are no strangers to the two out-of-state teams.
Two seasons ago at the Chick-fil-A Classic in Columbia, S.C., Logan gave Pinewood Prep all it could handle as the Wildcats lost 64-55 to Milton Jennings and the Panthers.
Last season, Logan faced Princeton (Md.) in the inaugural King Coal Classic at Willie Akers Arena and lost a memorable 74-68 triple-overtime game.
Logan went on to go 0-2 in last year’s King Coal Classic, also falling 57-36 to Veritas Sports Academy (N.C.), a team which included Sudanese brothers Deng Leek (7-0) and Leak Leak (6-6).
There will be six games in this year’s tournament, which will include JV games and a girls’ game for the first time.
The action begins on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. at the Logan girls’ basketball team faces Princeton Day Academy. Following the Logan-Pinewood game, the Princeton Day Academy boys will take on powerhouse Huntington Prep in the nightcap.
On Friday night, the Princeton Day Academy JV team is set to face the Logan JV squad at 5:30 p.m. before the varsity matchup between the two schools at 7:30. Pinewood will then take on George Washington in the nightcap.
Logan was originally slated to face GW in the tourney but the tournament schedule was changed.
The Wildcats were certainly be challenged against the Maryland and South Carolina teams.
Pinewood, however, is experiencing a season of growing pains and had just a 9-11 record as of last week. The Panthers had won four straight state titles in the Palmetto State and compiled a 132-23 record as Jennings, a two-time Gatorade State Player of the Year and McDonalds All-American, headed a star-studded cast.
Princeton Day Academy is having a good season. In fact, the Lanham, Md., school has a 11-1 record and is ranked No. 8 in the state in the latest Maryland state rankings. One of those schools ahead of Princeton is the famed DeMatha High School team out of Hyattsville, which is No. 1 in the state with a 16-0 mark.
Princeton Day Academy is a small, private 75-student school located at Mount Calvary Baptist Church in Lanham. Princeton Day began operations last year with 11 seniors and one junior who made up the boys’ basketball team.
Players on this year’s team hail from all over the globe, including students originally from North Carolina, New York, Colorado, Canada and France. Four are local products and just one is a returning player from last year’s team.
Princeton Day was at the center of a controversy recently as the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association ruled that it had not been approved as an opponent for Maryland’s public school teams.
Princeton Day’s recent game with Prince George’s County was reportedly called off.
Princeton Day, in a quest to compete against some of the nation’s best prep schools, recently won 77-59 over Woodrow Wilson High (D.C.) in the Potomac Holiday Classic, and also scored a 56-42 victory against H.D. Woodson High (D.C.) at Bishop McNamara High School’s Andre Blatche Holiday Invitational.
Princeton coach Vann Whitfield has already seen some of his former players go on to bigger and better things. Josh Underwood, an Arizona native and a 6-9 forward on last year’s team, has seen action in eight games so far this season at the University of Missouri.
Five other players from last year’s team earned basketball scholarships.
This year’s Princeton team is scheduled to travel to play in tournaments in New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Nevada, New Jersey, North Carolina, Virginia, Missouri and Tennessee.
Princeton went 2-0 in last year’s King Coal Classic, also beating South Charleston.
Huntington Prep (6-3), a first-year private school and basketball academy, has a loaded roster, which includes eight foreigners and five Americans – none of which are from West Virginia.
Huntington Prep is coached by Rob Fulford, who coached Logan’s Noah Cottrill last season at Mountain State Academy.
Cottrill has led Logan to a 6-1 season so far, including a pair of wins last week at Winfield (87-83) and at home over No. 3 Wheeling Park (78-63). Cottrill netted 38 points in the victory over Park. Logan was shorthanded in both games as 11 of its players were serving a two-game suspension for leaving the bench area in last Tuesday night’s 96-91 win over county rival Chapmanville. Logan will be at full strength, however, this week.
The Wildcats are set to host Class AA No. 2 Wyoming East tonight at 7:30 p.m. before hosting the King Coal Classic on Thursday and Friday.
On Thursday night at the King Coal Classic, donations will be taken for Christmas in the Park.
Many of the Christmas lighting displays were damaged or destroyed due to the recent snowstorm.
On Friday, donations will be accepted for the American Cancer Society.
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