The James Gamble Classic at Port Arthur Memorial has been very good to the Chatman family.

“My brother played in it and he got MVP three times,” senior Darion Chatman said, his brother Dorian now a junior at Midwestern State. “I got it once. It’d be good if I can get it again. It’s really just tradition. Everybody comes out and supports it.”

Thursday’s start of the 25^th annual Gamble Classic will be Memorial’s first game in nine days, but third-year coach Kenneth Coleman would rather not wait so long in the middle of the season.

“It’s welcome for the players, I’m sure,” Coleman said of the break, “but for the coaches, it’s always something we want to work on. And we hope during those five days, they found somewhere to play basketball, so the truth of the matter is, I was anxious to get back.”

Memorial (10-5, 1-0 in 22-5A) has won two straight, defeating Little Cypress-Mauriceville and Vidor at home. The home stand continues Thursday night against Fort Bend Ridge Point (13-5, 0-1 in 20-6A), the 12^th 6A team the 5A Titans will face this season.

Needless to say, Memorial prepared for a game like this.

“Basketball is just basketball,” Chatman said. “No matter who you play, even if it’s the Cleveland Cavaliers, it’s still basketball. Whoever executes the most is going to win.”

Coleman formulated this year’s Classic field as one of the most challenging in the event’s history, with 6A 22^nd-ranked Dickinson, perennial 6A power North Shore and usual 5A contender Ozen, among others, paying the defending 22-5A co-champion and 5A fifth-ranked Titans a visit. Thursday’s games will be used to help determine seeding for bracket play starting Friday, with the eighth- and ninth-place teams to play in the first consolation game. Kelly is competing in the consolation round only.

“When people think about you inviting teams and all that, they think the home team is looking for the edge,” Coleman said. “What we’re looking for is a quality tournament.”

The tournament honors Lincoln High coaching great James Gamble, who won four state championships with the Memorial predecessor in the 1980s and led his last team in 1999 to a state runner-up finish. Gamble’s house was flooded out in Tropical Storm Harvey, and Coleman, who played under Gamble in the late 1970s, is looking forward to the legend sitting back and just enjoying three days of holiday hoops without any worries.

“It’s one of the things people look forward to in this community and the surrounding community because people are home for the holidays and it’s a festive season and stuff like that,” Coleman said. “People put their nice stuff on, so we give them somewhere to go. Usually, we try to put our local teams later in the day because we expect a good crowd.”

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I.C. Murrell: 549-8541. Twitter: @ICMurrellPANews