MT. CARMEL HOOPS TOURNEY OFF

The latest COVID-19 outbreak is wreaking havoc with the post-Christmas high school basketball tournaments.

Greg Lanthier, head boys basketball coach and athletic director at Mt. Carmel, announced the 16-team Holiday Hoops Classic scheduled to start today at Mt. Carmel High, has been canceled.

Lanthier said five of the 16 teams had canceled because of COVID-related issues and he anticipated losing one or two more. So he decided to cancel, allowing teams that wanted to play an opportunity to find another event.

The Torrey Pines Holiday Classic also lost a number of teams due to COVID issues, but was able to fill in with teams from other events, adding Mira Costa and Canyon Crest from the Mt. Carmel event.

Still, the Torrey Pines field has been trimmed from 68 teams to 62.

The Torrey Pines tournament lost two of its more highly touted teams — Iona Prep from New York and DeMatha from Maryland, but Coronado of Nevada, Bishop Gorman from Las Vegas, St. Mary’s of Arizona, Faith Family from Texas and California powers Campolindo, Lincoln of Stockton, JSerra, Hillcrest and Archbishop Mitty of are still in.

San Diego-ranked teams in the tourney include No. 1 St. Augustine, No. 2 Torrey Pines, No. 4 Cathedral Catholic, No. 5 Mission Bay, No. 6 San Ysidro, No. 7 Mater Dei

Catholic, No. 8 San Diego, No. 9 La Costa Canyon and No. 10 La Jolla Country Day, along with Mission Hills, El Camino, Santa Fe Christian and Carlsbad.

However, No. 3 San Marcos is out.

On the girls side, the SoCal Holiday Prep Classic has lost at least three schools from its 40-team field. The tournament, however, is still on at several sites around the county.

Organizers from the Torrey Pines Holiday Classic and the SoCal Holiday Prep Classic encouraged fans to check their websites for changes.

Check theholidayclassic.org for the Torrey Pines event and socalholidayprepclassic.com for the girls.