LAKEVILLE - Its Bi-County Basketball Tournament time again! Eight schools will embark on the 59th annual Everwise (formerly TCU) Bi-County Basketball Tournament trophy. In this preview, we take a look at dates, times, pairings, tickets, and items of interest for the 2024 Everwise Bi-County Basketball Tournament. LaVille Athletic Director Will Hostrawser shared some tournament information and how much LaVille looks forward to this yearly event, along with the partnership with Everwise. "The Everwise Bi-County week is always a special week," said Hostrawser. "The historic tournament brings a lot of communities together here at LaVille and it is an honor to host them. Administratively speaking, there are a lot of moving parts - a lot of details to tend to. The weather also tends to make its presence known as well. Regardless, it is always a pleasure to be a part of it all." Opening round play will begin on Monday, January 15 with the junior varsity level. Four different sites will play host to first round action. On Tuesday, January 16, the varsity will open play at four different sites. Wednesday, January 17 will feature JV semifinal action at LaVille Jr-Sr High School. The JV girls begin play in two gyms at 6:30 p.m., with the JV boys to follow. Thursday, January 18 will be ladies night at LaVille. Varsity semifinal games will be played in Dale E. Cox Gymnasium, while consolation games are scheduled for the Auxiliary Gym. Game times are 6:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. Friday, January 19 puts the gentlemen at center stage at LaVille. Varsity semifinal and consolation games are scheduled for 6:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. starts. Championship Saturday - January 20 - starts at 12 p.m. with the junior varsity girls finale. The JV boys title game will follow. The varsity girls championship opens play at 6:30 p.m. The varsity boys final will follow around 8:30 p.m. An all-session pass may be purchased for $15 + fees digitally by logging onto https://lavillelancers.com/Tickets Single session tickets are $7 per person (pre-school admitted free) at the door. SPECIAL RECOGNITION According to Hostrawser, the Bi-County Tournament will recognize past champions - the 1969 and 1974 LaVille Bi-County champions - along with the WB Hawkins Scholarship, along with The Pilot News most valuable player award. "This year we will be honoring past championship teams between the boys semi-final games on Friday night," said Hostrawser. "We will also be honoring a male and female player from each team as Everwise will award the WB Hawkins $1000 scholarship between the girls and boys championships on Saturday night. Finally, following the championships, the Pilot News will be honoring a tournament MVP with the MVP award that is now named after long time sports writer Earl Mishler - an outstanding area sports writer, an avid basketball fan and long time Everwise Bi-County attendee." We had a chance to catch up with Pilot News sports editor Rusty Nixon about the renaming of the tournament MVP award. "I can't think of too many people deserving of such an honor than Earl," said Nixon. "Indiana High School basketball was literally the love of his life. In addition to his talent as a sportswriter, what he gave to the sport, especially to people in our profession was invaluable. His website has been "the bible" for those of us who cover the game. Basketball in this half of the state owes him a great debt." EVERWISE BI-COUNTY LIVE STREAM/BROADCAST "I believe the fist ever live sports broadcast by Max 98.3 was here at the Everwise Bi-County Tournament," Hostrawser said when asked about media coverage. "Tony Ross and crew always do an outstanding job promoting the teams and communities of our tournament. Matt Florian and his LVH1 crew have worked with new software to create some new scoreboard graphics utilizing a new Daktronics platform used in his classroom by LaVille students. Both these media outlets do a fantastic job making the Everwise Bi-County tournament special." 59th Annual Everwise Bi-County Basketball Tournament Pairings Monday Jan. 15, 2024 JV Girl/Boy 1st Round Triton at Oregon-Davis - 6:30 p.m. (Boys Only) Glenn at Argos - 6:00 p.m. New Prairie at Bremen - 6:00 p.m. (Boys Only) Culver at LaVille - 6:30 p.m. Tuesday Jan. 16, 2024 Varsity Girl/Boy 1st Round Oregon-Davis at Triton - 6:30 p.m. Argos at Glenn - 6:00 p.m. Bremen at New Prairie - 6:00 p.m. Culver at LaVille, 6:30 p.m. Wednesday Jan. 17, 2024 JV Girl/Boy Semifinals at LaVille, 6:30 p.m. Thursday Jan. 18, 2024 Varsity Girl Semifinals/Consolations at LaVille, 6:30 p.m. Friday Jan. 19, 2024 Varsity Boy Semifinals/Consolations at LaVille, 6:30 p.m. Saturday Jan. 20, 2024 JV Girls Championship, 12:00 p.m. JV Boys Championship, 1:30 p.m. Varsity Girls Championship, 6:30 p.m. Varsity Boys Championship, 8:30 p.m. TICKET INFORMATION (All Session $15 tickets only) Monday Jan. 15 - All Session Tickets JV https://public.eventlink.com/tickets?t=63319 Tuesday Jan. 16 - All Session Tickets https://public.eventlink.com/tickets?t=63321 *Single session tickets may be purchased at the gate for $7 each night.