Allstate Sugar Bowl National Prep Basketball Classic tips off January 2

Ten Louisiana state basketball champions and 13 out-of-state schools highlight the field in the ninth annual Allstate Sugar Bowl National Prep Classic. Overall, 68 teams will compete from January 2-5 at the Alario Center in Westwego, La. Daily admission is $10.

There will be a total of five championships awarded in the event. Boys will compete in a 16-team national bracket as well as an eight-team state bracket. There will be three girls’ divisions – a 14-team platinum bracket, a 14-team gold bracket and a 16-team silver bracket.

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The boys’ national bracket features top seed Bishop Loughlin (Brooklyn, N.Y.), Carver (Montgomery, Ala.), Christ School (Arden, N.C.), Lee (Huntsville, Ala.), Lakewood Ranch (Bradenton, Fla.), Miami (Fla.) Palmetto, St. Rita of Cascia (Chicago, Ill.), Silsbee (Texas) and White Station (Memphis, Tenn.). Carver and Lee feature two of the top recruits in the class of 2019 in Jaykwon Walton and Kobe Brown, respectively.

Looking to hold off the out-of-state challengers in this year’s event will be tournament host Riverside Academy (Reserve, La.) which won the Allstate Sugar Bowl National Prep Classic for the fourth time in eight seasons with a 61-55 overtime victory over Edna Karr last January.

Louisiana champions in the boys’ brackets include Walker (5A), Madison Prep (3A), Scotlandville (Division I), and Lafayette Christian (Division IV).

The girls’ brackets will feature six Allstate Sugar Bowl/LHSAA state champions, including Warren Easton (4A), Loranger (3A), North Caddo (2A), Ursuline (Division II), St. Katharine Drexel (Division III) and John Curtis (Division I).

In 2018, John Curtis won the Girls’ Platinum championship by defeating Kenwood (Ill.) Academy in the finals.

“We look forward to playing the best teams in the state, and the country, in the Allstate Sugar Bowl National Prep Classic,” said John Curtis Christian School head coach Barbara Farris, a member of the Allstate Sugar Bowl’s Greater New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame. “It is one of the toughest parts of our schedule, and a barometer for where we are as a program.”

Follow the tournament daily at AllstateSugarBowlHoops.com.