On its way to winning a WPIAL boys basketball title last season, Moon played at some cool venues and in front of some big crowds, the highlight being its championship win at Petersen Events Center.
But one place the Tigers didn’t dribble a ball or fire up a shot was PPG Paints Arena, which hosted a high school basketball event for the first time last December.
“As an outsider, seeing that event happen, you wanted to be a part of it,” Moon coach Gino Palmosina said. “So when we got the opportunity to play this year, we absolutely said yes.”
The holiday season is back and so is the second annual Pittsburgh Holiday Hoops Classic, which will take place at PPG Paints Arena on Dec. 22. The four-game event includes three boys games and one girls game, with the one-day showcase of Western Pennsylvania high school basketball tipping off at 1 p.m.
“We are thrilled to host this event once again. Pittsburgh has a long-standing love for basketball, and the Holiday Hoops Classic continues to build on that legacy by giving local student-athletes the chance to compete in a professional arena setting,” Gary Desjardins, SVP and General Manager of PPG Paints Arena, said in a release.
The four games include: Kiski Area vs. Fox Chapel girls at 1 p.m.; South Fayette vs. Moon boys at 3; Montour vs. Lincoln Park boys at 5; and Peters Township vs. Fox Chapel boys at 7.
The Fox Chapel and Lincoln Park boys are participating in the event for the second year in a row. Lincoln Park won WPIAL and PIAA Class 4A titles the past two seasons before moving up to Class 5A this season.
Fox Chapel coach Zach Skrinjar said he came away impressed with what he saw at the event last season. Skrinjar is just hoping for a different result after his team lost to Allderdice on a last-second shot.
“I liked the atmosphere,” Skrinjar said. “They really do a good job putting it on for all the players. To play in that arena, it’s as close to a big-time college atmosphere that some of these guys will get. It’s just an environment that some guys aren’t used to. At the time they might think it’s cool, but down the road I think they’ll really appreciate that they got to play there.”
Last year’s event had lots of star power attached to it with Lincoln Park’s Brandin Cummings (now at Pitt) and Meleek Thomas (now at Overtime Elite and an Arkansas commit) participating, and this season is no different. Montour features 6-foot-11 Ama Sow, a Division I Tennessee-Martin commit, while Moon is led by 6-5 Michael Santicola, who is committed to play at Nova Southeastern, one of the top Division II programs in the country.
The South Fayette-Moon contest figures to be one of the best games. The two were section rivals prior to this season. In four matchups the past two seasons, one was decided by a point and two others by two points.
“We’re really excited to play South Fayette,” Palmosina said. “We’ve had four incredible basketball games against them. We’re looking forward to a good day of hoops all together.”
Another of the top matchups is Peters Township vs. Fox Chapel. Peters Township is off to a 4-0 start and Fox Chapel is 3-1.
“We had an opportunity to play them in the summer league and we played them in a playoff game,” Skrinjar said of Peters Township. “It will be a really good game between two big teams with high-tempo offenses looking to get shots up with a lot of ball movement. It’s going to be a big challenge for our guys.”
Tickets for the event are on sale now at Tickemaster.com. And if you can’t make it in person, KDKA Radio will broadcast all of the games for the second year in a row.
“It’s pretty cool,” Palmosina said. “It’s an NHL arena and it hosts NCAA tournament games, but that’s really the only other time basketball games are played there. Them putting this on is great.”
Brad is a sports writer at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at beverett@unionprogress.com.