CALEDONIA — The new home of the Cavaliers will play host to some of the best basketball teams in Mississippi and Alabama at the Cavalier Classic on Saturday.
The new Caledonia gym, which opened this season just in time for volleyball, will host area teams West Point and Caledonia as well as Pontotoc, Madison-Ridgeland Academy, Sulligent, Red Bay, Paul W. Bryant, Northridge, Hoover and Winfield for a full slate of basketball on Saturday.
It’s a big event for the school and its new facility, but also for Caledonia basketball as a whole.
“It means a lot to me because this hasn’t been a basketball school and I’m trying to make it a basketball school,” Caledonia boys basketball coach Jonathan Comer said. “I think it started with us getting a brand new facility. I thought this was a step up for us to take the program to the next level.”
The $10 million facility offers plenty of space for Caledonia’s teams to share and arrives at a time when basketball is beginning to find its footing. Both boys’ and girls’ teams made the playoffs last year and returned the kind of talent that the coaches expect to build on.
“We’re building on a historic year last year, Caledonia girls basketball had never been to the playoffs before,” Caledonia girls basketball coach Ame Walker said. “This is my fifth year, and when I got here Caledonia girls basketball was a speck. We’re building, it’s been a great five years, I’ve got a good team and we’re looking forward to a good season.”
Walker echoed Comer’s sentiment about the value of investing in the school’s programs with such a facility, noting what it means to the kids as much as it does to the community.
“Not so much for me but for the kids, they have somewhere to walk in that’s new, they have their own locker rooms, a hospitality room where they can hang out and do whatever they want to do,” Walker said of the facility. “When you invest in them it changes the mentality. At Caledonia, we’re trying to get some attention on basketball and this is a big step for sure, we’re very proud of it.”
The gym hosted a media day on Monday, providing access to the participating coaches and a walkaround of the gym. Columbus boys basketball head coach Phillip Morris was there to express his excitement for the weekend, where his team will face off with Hoover.
“I think it’s great for us,” he said of the matchup. “Most definitely my guys are excited about it, and when they asked me would we want to play, I was excited myself. We consider ourselves one of the best in the state this year and if you want to be the best you have to beat the best.”
The basketball showcase will attract some attention from scouts as well, all converging on Caledonia to witness some of the top talents in girls and boys high school basketball.
“We’ve got some really good teams, as far as players we’ve got the top three players in the state of Alabama, top three in Mississippi, just some quality guys,” Comer said. “College coaches are coming to watch and these kids have the opportunity to play in front of them, watch and play against a high level of competition.”
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