The 50th Annual Andalusia Christmas Invitational Tournament begins tonight on Richard Robertson Court at Andalusia High School.

This year’s tournament includes Andalusia, Red Level, Straughn, Florala, Opp, Greenville and Georgiana.

“On a personal level, it’s a special thing for me to continue on this tournament,” Andalusia head coach Anthony Clark said. “I played in the tournament growing up and then coached in it. Coach (Clayton Bryant) started it back in the 60s and then Coach (Richard)Robertson carried it on for 40 years.”

As a special tribute to the two former Andalusia coaches, Clark said that tournament MVP award will now bare the name of both Bulldog coaching legends.

“Between the two of them (Bryant and Robertson), they put this tournament on for 50 years,” Clark said. “They are both mentors of mine and they both mean a lot of the county so we wanted to honor them by renaming it the Bryant-Robertson MVP Award.”

The presentation of the award will be presented on Saturday night prior to the tournament championship game.

As for the tournament itself, Clark said he is ready to see his team compete.

“Our man goal is to get better with every game and put together four quarters,” Clark said. “Especially for the tournament, we have to get more fluidity in our rotation, and we hope to maybe see that over the course of a three-day tournament. We aren’t preparing for the tournament any different than any other game. Playing in a tournament is a little different. We are hoping to be playing three games in three days, so this time of year we really have to be mindful of minutes.”

The Bulldogs are off to 4-0 start and the No. 9-ranked team in Class 4A, and Clark said that a big part of that has been the Andalusia student section.

“We are really hoping that we will have a packed student section for the tournament,” Clark said. “Our students have been  amazing. They have really been the sixth man this year. We feed off of their energy and we are going to need them during the tournament.”

Clark said the addition of more county teams was something he really wanted to do.

“We have a lot more county schools in the tournament this year,” Clark said. “That is the way that is use to be. There would be the six Covington County schools and then a couple of schools invited in, and we want to get it back to that. With the other county schools in the tournament, it really gives it more of a county tournament feel. It also makes it a lot fun.”

Part of what helps convince coaches to bring their teams to participate in the event has been the hospitality room put on by the Oleander Club.

“The Oleander Club has been doing the hospitality room at the tournament for many years,” Clark said. “I’m so thankful that they are going to continue to do that for us. There are a lot of coaches that really look forward to coming to the tournament just because of the food that these ladies provide in the hospitality room. I really want to thank them for all that they do.”

The tournament will begin today at 4:30 p.m., with Straughn against Florala.

Opp and Greenville will tipoff at 6 p.m., for the second game.

Andalusia and Red Level will be the final game tonight at 7:30 p.m.

Friday and Saturday’s action will each begin at 4:30 p.m.