Boardwalk Basketball Classic powers through its return as South Jersey's biggest party

WILDWOOD — Basketball teaches improvisation.

This week’s return to the Boardwalk Basketball Classic tested the limits or those teachings.

Billed as the largest single-site coed high school basketball tournament in the country, the Boardwalk Classic has been a two-decade staple of the South Jersey holiday hoops schedule. A year after suspending the tournament due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s return was one of the most challenging accomplishments in the history of the event

And the most rewarding.

“For us, this is a great event,” Paul Vi coach Orlando Hidalgo said. “We love playing showcases. Whenever we get an opportunity, we want to squeeze them in. Some of our girls play AAU travel all over and have been a part of multiple games game playing in arenas like this. Some of the girls have never experienced that. This is a good opportunity for them to get the experience that and go get some great competition.”

Paul VI beat Atlantic City 48-36 in a showcase game on the East Court of the Wildwoods Convention Center. Both the West Court, where the boys teams play, and the East Court a full 94-foot NCAA-sized courts with seating for a few thousand fans, if necessary.

In a typical year, the Boardwalk Classic hosts up to 80 games during the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day. This year there were 64 games scheduled. Despite the lingering effects of COVID and its variants, 42 of those games were actually played.

Boxscore: Paul VI 48, Atlantic City 36

Boxscore: Timber Creek 36, Ocean City 35

Boxscore: Newark Academy 47, Delsea 26

“We just sat down and counted it up,” tournament director Ernie Troiano said. “We had 45 schedule changes this week. We lost two just (Thursday). Everybody did their best to make sure every team that wanted to play this week got a chance to play. We had teams from all over, whether they originally were on the schedule or not, help us match teams up as best we could.”

It was a massive undertaking and mostly successful.

Normally, the event is made up of four-team brackets grouped by competitiveness, with a few showcase games mixed in to fill out each day’s events. This year saw brackets gets changed, showcases get added and teams get new match ups almost to the last minute.

The Timber Creek girls were on the bus to Wildwood for their overnight stay and a Thursday game against St. Hubert's when the Bambies had to opt out because of positive COVID tests.

The Chargers showed up to the convention center in full uniform to take advantage of an unscheduled practice.

“This is probably the only opportunity to play at a facility like this for a lot of these girls,” Chargers’ coach MollyAnne Light said. “To play outside of the Tri County outside of their own gym is really fun. It feels like they're the big time. It’s good for them to get this exposure.”

The overnight stay is a team-building exercise as important as their 36-35 win over Ocean City on New Year’s Eve.

“Our whole theory this year has been if we're going to do something we want get something out of it,” Light said. “We don't know how long this is going to last. Our kids do a great job of really getting something out of whatever they're doing. This is so worth it.”

Delsea coach Rob Briles and Atlantic City coach Jason Lantz both stayed home with non-COVID illnesses. Several teams played short-handed with players sitting out as COVID precautions. It’s a sign of these times.

“This time last year, we didn't know if we were even playing.” Atlantic City assistant coach Anthony Nistico said. “We got a chance to play against a great team. We had some young players step in and get some experience. We learned a lot about ourselves today.”

Delsea dropped a 47-26 decision to Newark Academy. The Crusaders did get both their games in but travelled back and forth rather than stay overnight as they normally would. Still, it was an invaluable experience for a young team.

Assistant coach Neil Bress made a point to get every player on the Delsea roster into the game. Every player had their moment.

“It's really good for them,” Bress said. “It's a college-sized floor. That's one of the reasons that I was happy to be able to get all of our kids even the that are primarily JV guys this year were all able to get in and experience this.”

And that’s why the Boardwalk Basketball Classic returned.

The biggest, best South Jersey high school basketball event of the year took a huge step toward returning the sport to normalcy. It wasn’t always easy. It required unending improvisation.

But it was essential.

“For us to be able to give these the kids the opportunity to play in a big arena setting and to bring some tourism to a town during the slowest time of the year is really rewarding,” Troiano said. “This is all about scholarships for our kids. A lot of the kids in our programs don't have the best opportunities. If we can help somebody fulfill their dream. We are going to what it takes to make it happen.”

Tom Rimback, sports reporter

Tom Rimback grew up reading the Burlington County Times and Courier Post sports sections and began writing for the BCT in 1996. He has covered everything from Super Bowls and Final Fours to Tri-County Swimming but he’s happiest on a sideline interviewing South Jersey scholastic athletes for the Burlington County Times, the Courier Post and The Daily Journal. Follow him on twitter @RimbackBCT. Email him with story ideas at trimback@thebct.com and, most importantly, support local journalism with a subscription.

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This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: Boardwalk Basketball Classic returns as good as ever in tough times