When Sugar Creek Missionary Baptist Church pastor Mike Long was finding it difficult getting opponents for the Sugar Creek Christian Academy basketball teams he went back to the basics: Hosting a tournament comprised of teams from area Christian school.

SCCA, Pike County Christian, Covenant Christian (W.Va.), and Carter County Christian (Ky.) all participated in the single-elimination Sugar Creek Invitational Tournament on Saturday at SCCA.

“All these schools are similar in size,” Long said. “We have 85 students and Carter County has about a hundred. We are all relatively new schools; Pike County Christian is the oldest and it has been around about 10 years.”

SCCA has been a school for nine years and this is the fifth year for its basketball program. If Long has his way, this tournament will be a yearly occurrence.

“I’d like to see (the tournament) happen every year from here on out and rotate host schools,” Long said. “Playing other Christian schools usually requires a lot of travel and it’s good to see these schools get together and play.”