Goshen High School is hosting the 2015 Christmas basketball tournament this weekend inside both the new and old gym. Between both the girls and boys brackets, 16 teams will be on campus.

“We are super excited about it,” said Eagles head coach Ethan Carroll. “We have a lot of good teams coming in to play.”

Due to last minute cancellations, the tournament’s first round was moved up to Monday night with both the boys and girls teams playing Brantley. Both teams advanced into the winner’s bracket, the girls with a 49-26 and the boys with a 51-26 win.

The boys let a double-digit lead slip away before pulling away late in the game.

“It was a decent win,” Carroll said. “We got complacent. We had four players out with injuries so we were a little thin, but we a got a win to put us in the winner’s bracket.”

Play begins today for other teams, including Luverne, Dale County, Pike County, G.W. Long, Brantley, Ariton and Highland Home.

“It’s going to be very tough,” Carroll said. “It’s going to be very competitive. It’s not going to be easy. You’re not going to be able to hide from everybody. It’s going to be a lot of fun, and we are super excited.”

The two gyms at Goshen give the opportunity to host such a large tournament, and it gives people in the community the opportunity to enjoy a lot of high school basketball.

“It’s a good way of getting the community together,” Carroll said. “As a basketball fan, you’re really going to start paying attention, especially on Friday night. There will be four games starting at 3:30 in each gym. If you are a basketball fan, it’s a really good way to see the talent in the local area.”

The Eagles will use this tournament turn up the heat as they start making the transition into area play over the next couple of weeks. This tournament will give both Carroll and girl’s head coach Fred Lowery the opportunities to gauge their teams.

“It’s a big deal,” Carroll said. “It’s a good time in our schedule to really give us a self-evaluation and it tells us how far we need to go and what we need to work on.”

“It’s a great experience and a wonderful opportunity,” Lowery said.

“We are going to be able to see different teams with different styles and that’s going to help. This tournament is all about preparations. We are going to use this tournament for tournament play.”

Both the girls and boys will play Friday night against the winner of Ariton and Highland Home. The girls will start at 5:30 with the boys to follow.

Pike County tips off at 5:15 p.m. today.