After many years of Lane hosting its own basketball tournament over Thanksgiving, the first annual “Battle of the Bridge Thanksgiving Tournament” was held during the week of Nov. 24th- Nov. 28th. Depaul College Prep, located on 3633 N California Ave, co-hosted the tournament with Lane.

Each school hosted three other teams, with whom they played until the placing games. Lane hosted Harlan, Mount Carmel, and Notre Dame. Depaul hosted Taft, Westinghouse, and Evanston.

The championship and fifth place games were played at Lane, while the third and seventh place games were played at Depaul.

Lane’s first game was against Harlan. The Indians won the game 77-68. Second, Lane played Notre Dame. The Dons were victorious, 62-42. Then, the Indians took on Mount Carmel, falling 71-53. In the 5th place game, Westinghouse won 60-44, which resulted in a 3rd place finish in the Lane side of the tournament, 6th place overall.

While Lane did not finish the tournament as champions, there were positives taken away from the games. Simon Ne- gash, Div. 556 and Vance Rockford, Div. 582, were awarded All-Tournament team. By being selected, Negash and Rockford are recognized as several of the top players who took part in the tournament.

“It was an honor to be selected for the all tourney team, but my focus is our team and preparation for our upcoming conference games,” Negash said.

“It’s just a great feeling to be recognized,” Rockford said. “Especially in an elite tournament.”

Lane has two more basketball tournaments scheduled, both taking place over winter break. First, the “Can-American Shootout” in Ontario, Canada takes place on the 19th and 20th of December. After the boys get back, they play in the York Holiday Tournament Dec. 28th-30th, hosted by York High School. Good luck boys!