By Kevin Eckleberry

kevin.eckleberry@lagrangenews.com

It’s tournament time.

Teams from LaGrange and Troup will on the court for holiday tournaments this week as they tune up for the start of region play next week.

LaGrange is hosting the LaGrange Toyota Basketball Classic, with four boys’ teams playing three games apiece from Wednesday through Friday.

The LaGrange girls’ team will be in Newnan for a tournament, and the Troup girls’ team will head to Haralson County for its tournament.

At LaGrange, the Toyota tournament has become a post-Christmas tradition.

It’ll be a different format this year since there are four teams instead of eight.

Each team will play the same number of games, but there won’t be a bracket, rather there’ll be a round-robin format.

Joining LaGrange in the field are McIntosh, Harris County and Stone Mountain.

LaGrange opens against McIntosh on Wednesday, and it plays Stone Mountain on Thursday before closing with a game against Harris County on Friday.

All three games are scheduled to tip off at 7:30 p.m.

For the Grangers, playing at home will be a treat since most of their games have been on the road.

The Grangers (6-4) have a winning record despite facing a challenging schedule while playing eight of their 10 regulra-season games, as well as a scrimage, on the road.

“Every game we feel like we’ve had a chance,” LaGrange head coach Mark Veal said. “We know we’ve got to keep getting better, and hopefully we will.”

Also this week, the LaGrange Lady Grangers will be one of eight teams participating in the Newnan High Holiday Classic.

The other tournament participants are Newnan, East Coweta, North Cobb, North Clayton, Hiram, Auburn and Grayson.

First up for LaGrange (4-6) is a showdown against North Clayton on Wednesday at 3 p.m.

LaGrange then plays Hiram on Thursday at 4:30 p.m. before facing Grayson Friday at 9 a.m.

LaGrange’s teams will begin their Region 5-AAAA schedules on Jan. 2 against Central-Carroll.

Troup’s girls’ team will be in Tallapoosa for the Hillburn-Patterson Haralson County Invitational this week.

It’ll be a four-team field that includes Troup, Bremen, Central-Carroll and Haralson County.

Troup opens against Bremen on Thursday at 6:30 p.m., and if it wins, it will play either Central-Carroll or Haralson County for the tournament championship on Friday at 6:30 p.m.

If Troup loses to Bremen, it will play for third place on Friday at 3:30 p.m.

Troup (5-2) will begin its Region 5-AAAA schedule at home against Chapel Hill on Jan. 2.