ALLEGANY — The field is set, the matchups arranged for the Joe DeCerbo Holiday Showcase to return to Allegany-Limestone Middle-High School after Christmas.
The Gators’ gym will be the site of 12 games over two days, Friday and Saturday Dec. 27-28: four girls games involving eight different teams and eight boys games featuring eight teams playing twice.
Participating boys teams include: Olean, Allegany-Limestone, Salamanca, Cuba-Rushford, Wellsville, Bradford, Otto-Eldred and Warren. The eight girls teams are Salamanca, Port Allegany, Olean, Portville, Jamestown, Otto-Eldred, A-L and Ellicottville.
Formerly known as “the IAABO” tournament and often held at St. Bonaventure’s Reilly Center, the Cattaraugus County basketball officials renamed their tournament seven years ago to honor the late DeCerbo, a dedicated longtime official and youth sports coach in Olean. This will mark the third year since shifting to a “Showcase” format, with set matchups rather than a tournament.
The move has been met with positive reactions from coaches, county IAABO secretary Mike LaCroix said.
“In regards to the format, from coaches, it’s extremely positive,” LaCroix said. “A number of coaches over the years liked the fact that they’re playing teams that they normally wouldn’t play in the regular season, especially when we’re crossing borders between some of the Pennsylvania and the New York teams, along with some of the teams that come in from Allegany County and on the girls side we have Jamestown coming in from Chautauqua County. It’s been nothing but positive.”
The board also looked to shake up the matchups a bit. So the long-running opening night game between the Olean and Bradford boys is not on the schedule: Bradford plays Salamanca Friday at 2:30 p.m. and Olean opens against Otto-Eldred later that evening at 6.
“We as an executive board get together over the summer and talk about the teams that have accepted our invitation,” LaCroix said of scheduling matchups. “And then we just kind of base it on how the teams did the year before, returning players that they have and we don’t want to have the same teams playing one another, year after year.”
Specific to the Olean and Bradford schedules, LaCroix noted, “We just decided, you know what, let’s give some other schools an opportunity to play one another.
“Just something a little bit different, playing against different competition. There really isn’t any science that goes into it, it’s just kind of matching up who we feel hasn’t played each other in the past and go from there.”
One matchup repeating from last year is on the boys side, where Allegany-Limestone will again play Cuba-Rushford, a friendly clash between Gators coach Glenn Anderson and the Rebels’ Pat Wight, a longtime A-L assistant.
The 2024 DeCerbo teams include five sectional or district champions from 2023-24 (Olean, Salamanca, Warren and O-E boys and Portville girls), another state tournament qualifier (Port Allegany girls) and two others who made a sectional or district final (Bradford boys, Ellicottville girls).
“It’s a good two days of basketball,” LaCroix said. “I’ve been involved with the Cattaraugus County basketball officials now for almost 10 years and I remember coming up as a player and as a fan and you never missed this tournament or now, this showcase. It’s good basketball, highlighting some of our elite teams in the area, some of our elite athletes and hopefully we get a good crowd for that Friday and Saturday and pray that Mother Nature cooperates.”
The IAABO 121 uses proceeds from the event to fund its annual scholarships for student-athletes in the county or on the competing teams. The board handed out 15 $500 scholarships at the end of last school year, as the recipients will be presented between the 4:15 and 6 p.m. games each night.
In other details for the 2024 Showcase:
For college students and all other adults, the entrance fee is $5, and $2 for middle and high-schoolers. Elementary school students and younger are admitted free.
Rather than an all-tournament team, an MVP and sportsmanship award winner are recognized from each team after each game. Studio 4 East will sell official DeCerbo Showcase merchandise on site and the A-L sports boosters will run the concession stand.
Fans can track updates including photos from the events on the new Joe DeCerbo Holiday Showcase page on Facebook.
The full 2024 Joe DeCerbo Memorial Holiday Showcase:
Friday, Dec. 27
Girls: Port Allegany vs. Salamanca, 11:45 p.m.
Boys: Warren vs. Wellsville, 12:45 p.m.
Boys: Bradford vs. Salamanca, 2:30 p.m.
Girls: Portville vs. Olean, 4:15 p.m.
Boys: Otto-Eldred vs. Olean, 6 p.m.
Boys: Allegany-Limestone vs. Cuba-Rushford, 7:45 p.m.
Saturday, Dec. 28
Girls: Jamestown vs. Otto-Eldred, 11 a.m.
Boys: Cuba-Rushford vs. Otto-Eldred, 12:45 p.m.
Boys: Allegany-Limestone vs. Bradford, 2:30 p.m.
Girls: Allegany-Limestone vs. Ellicottville, 4:15 p.m.
Boys: Olean vs. Warren, 6 p.m.
Boys: Salamanca vs. Wellsville, 7:45 p.m.
