Location likely moving for SC high school basketball championship games in March
The South Carolina high school basketball championship games might be headed to a new location this year.
In Wednesday’s executive committee meeting, the S.C. High School League commissioner Jerome Singleton said the championship games might be headed to Winthrop University in Rock Hill. Singleton hopes to have deal in place soon.
Winthrop and USC Aiken are the two locations to put in bids. USC Aiken had hosted the championships the previous two years. The games will be held March 2-4.
Winthrop has a bigger capacity than USC Aiken. The Winthrop Coliseum, which was built in 1982, seats 6,100. USC Aiken Convocation Center seats 3,600.
“USC Aiken is a very attractive venue and intimate seating and lends to a great atmosphere for a championship final,” Singleton told the committee. “The concern is, as it continues to grow as we anticipate, is seating capacity. ... Winthrop University gives an opportunity to make things better.”
Singleton said he and the staff plan to do a site visit at Winthrop in the coming weeks and then make a final decision.
Before USC Aiken’s Convocation Center hosted the games the previous two seasons, the games were held for years at the University of South Carolina’s Colonial Life Arena. USC was unable to put in a bid to host in Columbia this year because the men’s basketball team has a home game against Georgia on March 4.
The upper and lower state championships will remain at the same spots. The upper state championships will be at Bob Jones University in Greenville, while the lower state championship will be at the Florence Center. Dates for those semifinal games are Feb. 24-25 and 27.
This story was originally published January 11, 2023 at 3:01 PM with the headline "Location likely moving for SC high school basketball championship games in March."
