Kingston New Year’s Classic approaching Boys

Kingston New Year’s Classic approaching

It is time for the 2023 New Year’s Classic at The KMAC at Kingston High School. Every year, Superintendent Brian Brister and Athletic Director Taylor Wiebener assembles a great tournament forthebasketballfansofMarshall County and southern Oklahoma. It has grown into amuch-watchedaffairsimply for the level of competition that comes out of it.

Teams that have aspirations of a state title have used the NYC as a benchmark to see where they are in relation to the upcoming playoff season. As seen in the past, many of the NYC champions have gone on to win a state title. This year will be no exception.

The NYC boys’ bracket will feature the Dale Pirates, again, as the number one seed. They are the reigning state(2A)championandNew Year’s Classic Champions. They will come to the tourney again ranked # 1 in the state with a 13-0 record.

With all these accolades, how could they possibly be more highly touted? They are now the Tulsa Tournament of Champions winner, as well. This past weekend they added this prestigious trophy to their growing collection. In the opening round, they defeated (4A) Crossing Christian by 15 points. Next, theytookonTulsaUnion(6A) and defeated them by 15.

In the finals, they took on the defending state champion Tulsa Memorial (5A), currently ranked #2 (5A) and beat them by seven, 59 to 52. The last time a school this small won the T of C was 1978.

TheDalePiratesareledby junior Dayton Forsythe, who scored 34 points in the final. He was the MVP (he has won the MVP of the NYC the past two years) of the tournament. This gives NYC fans a chance to see one of Oklahoma’s best teams regardless of size.

The rest of the bracket will be filled with the likes of Atoka, Talahina, Latta, Broken Bow, Silo and Marlow. Dale will open up play against Talahina at 12:20 p.m. Thursday and Kingston will play Marlow at 8:20 p.m.

Photos courtesy of Scissortail Photo Co.