Snow pushes back 34th annual WYMT Food City Mountain Basketball Classic

HAZARD, Ky. (WYMT) - Due to winter weather, the 34th annual WYMT Food City Mountain Basketball Classic presented by Kentucky Farm Bureau and sponsored by ARH has been pushed back a day.

“You forget you’re in February, the first day of February and weather can pop up and get you so that’s a different thing that we have to worry about,” said Bobby Dixon, facilities and events coordinator at Perry County Central. “We’re having to be really careful and get together and talk it out and it’s been a process trying to get this thing squared away.”

Officials with the Mountain Classic, made the decision to postpone due to slick conditions expected Monday night.

“Temperatures are already below freezing and they are just going to continue to drop and even those road temperatures are basically right at freezing right now so we’re actually going to probably start to see that snow stick to the roads in the next couple of hours,” said Chief Meteorologist at WYMT, Paige Noel.

The goal of the tournament has been safety due to the pandemic, and now safety for those traveling to Perry Central.

“With that last game starting I think at 8:30 p.m. that means that people aren’t leaving games aren’t over until close to almost 10 o’clock and that’s when roads are really going to deteriorate,” said Noel.

With everything pushed back one day, the championship games will now be played on Sunday.

“The Super Bowl is also Sunday so we wanted to stay away from it and we’re going to play our third place games on Saturday, so Saturday as of right now we’re going to have four games here,” said Dixon. “That’s the key is our coaches being flexible and being eager to get in here and play and if something changes, just have to roll with it.”

Here is the updated schedule for the tournament.

First round:

Boys:

Harlan County vs. Knott Central - Wednesday, February 3 - 6 p.m.

Martin County vs. Hazard - Thursday, February 4 - 8:30 p.m.

Wolfe County vs. Buckhorn - Tuesday, February, 2 - 8:30 p.m.

Knox Central vs. Betsy Layne - Wednesday, February 3 - 8:30 p.m.

Girls:

North Laurel - BYE

Owsley County vs. Knott Central - Tuesday, February 2 - 6 p.m.

Floyd Central - BYE

Martin County vs. Perry Central - Thursday, February 4 - 6 p.m.

Semifinals:

Boys:

Harlan County/Knott Central winner vs. Hazard/Martin County winner - Saturday, February 6 - 12:30 p.m.

Knox Central/Betsy Layne winner vs. Wolfe County/Buckhorn winner - Saturday, February 6 - 3 p.m.

Third place game - Saturday, February 6 - 6:30 p.m.

Girls:

Owsley County/Knott Central winner vs. North Laurel - Friday, February 5 - 6 p.m.

Martin County/Perry Central winner vs. Floyd Central - Friday, February 5 - 8:30 p.m.

Third place game - Saturday, February 6 - 10 a.m.

Championship:

Girls championship - Sunday, February 7 - 12:00 p.m.

Boys championship - Sunday, February 7 - 2:30 p.m.

The tournaments will now be from Tuesday, February 2nd through Sunday, February 7th at Perry County Central High School.

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