MLK Day basketball showcase moves to Central Pa., still includes 5 WPIAL teams

By: Chris Harlan
Thursday, January 13, 2022 | 12:30 AM

The MLK Day basketball showcase that recently called Woodland Hills home has shifted about 150 miles east, but this weekend’s event still has some WPIAL teams taking part.

Former Woodland Hills athletic director Ron Coursey, now AD at Chambersburg, organized a three-day event at his new school and will welcome the Woodland Hills boys and girls teams, the North Allegheny girls, the Aliquippa boys and Imani Christian boys. The Mt. Lebanon boys and girls teams were initially committed to play as well but canceled this week.

Chambersburg has a 2,000-seat field house and has hosted PIAA playoff games in recent years.

“I can’t wait to get my kids from Woodland Hills in here and let them see this gym. They’re going to love it,” Coursey said. “That’s a bonus, being able to do this event and have Woodland Hills here.”

The event is drawing teams from both ends of the state.

Likely the best game on paper matches the Imhotep Charter boys of Philadelphia against St. Benedict’s Prep of Newark, N.J. Imhotep features Justin Edwards, a 6-foot-7 junior who has Kentucky among his long list of college offers. ESPN ranks Edwards as the 16th-best prospect in the 2023 class.

“Basketball here in the Chambersburg area and Central Pennsylvania is pretty big,” Coursey said, “so a lot of the teams we’re bringing in, they already know and are familiar with.”

In three years at Woodland Hills, the showcase raised awareness about gun violence.

At Chambersburg, the event has a new focus and was renamed “Hoops for Harmony: Stand Against Racism.” A portion of the proceeds will be donated to Racial Reconciliation, a nonprofit organization in Franklin County.

“Racial Reconciliation was one of the first organizations I met when I got here,” Coursey said. “They provide training and seminars on racial harmony and strategies to basically make the world a better place. Immediately, it kind of clicked with me. … This is a great opportunity to champion a great cause.

“And obviously keeping it on Martin Luther King weekend with his famous ‘I have a dream’ speech, I think that this cause is essentially centered around his vision of racial harmony and judging people based on the content of their character and not the color of their skin.”

Hoops for Harmony

At Chambersburg High School

Friday’s games

Scotland Prep boys vs. Keystone Prep, 4 p.m.

Woodland Hills girls vs. Linden Hall. 5:30 p.m.

Woodland Hills boys vs. Berlin-Brothersvalley, 7 p.m.

Cumberland Valley boys vs. Chambersburg, 8:30 p.m.

Saturday’s games

Cedar Cliff girls vs. Chambersburg, 10 a.m.

Forest Hills girls vs. Imhotep Charter, 11:30 a.m.

Chester boys vs. Keystone Prep, 1 p.m.

York girls vs. Harrisburg, 1:30 p.m. (auxiliary gym)

York boys vs. Harrisburg, 2:30 p.m.

Woodland Hills girls vs. St. Francis, 3 p.m. (auxiliary gym)

Woodland Hills boys vs. Severn, Md., 4 p.m.

Columbia boys vs. Berlin-Brothersvalley, 4:30 p.m. (auxiliary gym)

Rock Creek Christian, Md., boys vs. St. Benedict’s, N.J., 5:30 p.m.

Imhotep Charter boys vs. Bishop Walsh, Md., 7 p.m.

Cedar Cliff boys vs. Chambersburg, 8:30 p.m.

Sunday’s games

North Allegheny girls vs. St. Francis, 10:30 a.m.

Aliquippa boys vs. Harrisburg, noon

Imani Christian boys vs. West Catholic, 1:30 p.m.

St. Benedict’s, N.J., boys vs. Bishop Walsh, Md., 3 p.m.

Chester boys vs. Cumberland Valley, 4:30 p.m.

Scotland Prep boys vs. Rock Creek Christian, Md., 6 p.m.

Chris Harlan is a TribLive reporter covering sports. He joined the Trib in 2009 after seven years as a reporter at the Beaver County Times. He can be reached at charlan@triblive.com.

Tags: Aliquippa, Imani Christian, North Allegheny, Woodland Hills