Medford and Somerville high school basketball teams to renew rivalry at 2020 Tufts Classic

Mustangs and Highlanders tip off in doubleheader at Tufts University on Sunday, Jan. 19, for right to take home Tufts Classic trophy; donations will be collected for area food banks

The Medford and Somerville High Schools' boys basketball teams play each other in a sunlit Tufts-branded gymnasium as stands full of spectators look on.

MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, Mass. (Jan. 7, 2020)—The Medford High School Mustangs and Somerville High School Highlanders girls and boys basketball teams will go head-to-head at the 4th Annual Tufts Classic on Sunday, Jan.  19, at Cousens Gymnasium on Tufts' Medford/Somerville campus. The girls' game will tip off at 12 p.m., and the boys' game will tip off at 1:30 p.m.

The winners of each game will receive a "Tufts Classic" trophy, which will stay in their possession until the next Tufts Classic. Last year, the Medford girls’ team and Somerville boys’ team took the trophies back to their respective high schools.

Players from all four teams will receive specially-branded Tufts Classic t-shirts to commemorate their participation in the doubleheader.

Admission to the Tufts Classic doubleheader is free. Event staff will be accepting donations for Project SOUP in Somerville and Community Cupboard in Medford. Fans are asked to bring nonperishable food items and personal household and hygiene products to support those in need in both cities. A detailed list of preferred donation items can be found at the Tufts Classic’s Facebook event page.

The Medford boys' team coach is Tufts alumnus John Skerry, who captained the Jumbo men's basketball team in 1994.

The Tufts Classic is just one way that Tufts supports young athletes and students in the Jumbos' host communities.

Tufts will host students from 75 local high schools, including Medford and Somerville, at the Region IV Science Fair on March 6 at Breed Hall, 51 Winthrop Street in Medford. In addition to the awards for the top STEM students in the region, there will also be prizes for the top students from Medford and Somerville.

As part of a community benefits package that Tufts provides to its host communities, Somerville's young recreational athletes in select sports have access to Tufts athletic fields and facilities for practices and games. To address a shortage of facilities temporarily exacerbated by construction of the new Somerville High School, Tufts hosted Somerville teams more than 600 hours of practices, scrimmages and games in 2019.

Tufts men's lacrosse and football teams host annual coat and food drives for Somerville Homeless Coalition, and the Tufts football team also participates in a reading program with students at West Medford's Brooks Elementary School. Additionally, Tufts student athletes volunteer at Columbus Elementary School in South Medford with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Massachusetts Bay.

Jumbo athletes also act as mentors for local children through Team IMPACT, a program co-founded by Tufts alumni that pairs children with severe or chronic illnesses with college athletes. 

For more information on how Tufts supports its host communities, please visit communityrelations.tufts.edu.

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About Tufts University

Tufts University, located on campuses in Boston, Medford/Somerville and Grafton, Massachusetts, and in Talloires, France, is recognized among the premier research universities in the United States. Tufts enjoys a global reputation for academic excellence and for the preparation of students as leaders in a wide range of professions. A growing number of innovative teaching and research initiatives span all Tufts campuses, and collaboration among the faculty and students in the undergraduate, graduate and professional programs across the university's schools is widely encouraged.

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