East Hamilton is getting into the Christmas spirit early, combining today’s middle school and high school basketball games with a fundraiser for Toys for Tots.
The high school teams will be in their gymnasium hosting Central with the girls’ varsity game at 6 and the boys’ game at 7:30, preceded by a junior varsity boys’ game at 4:30. The middle school teams are hosting Red Bank with the JV girls playing at 3:45 and the varsity girls at 6:15. The JV boys play in between at 5 and the eighth-grade boys’ game is at 7:30.
“The middle school has had charity games with Red Bank for about five years, or basically since we opened,” said Derek Morris, head coach of East Hamilton’s varsity high school girls. “This is the third year it’s been for Toys for Tots. It so happened we had high school and middle school games on the same night, so we thought we’d jump on board with their idea.”
Morris said East Hamilton teachers had a gift exchange of toys — which was a good chance to poke fun at each other — and then all of those toys will be donated. East Hamilton’s wrestlers also have been collecting toys for the event.
The school’s bands will be on hand to liven up the event. Also, any student who brings a new toy as a donation will be admitted free.