CHAPEL HILL—The North Carolina High School Athletic Association has announced its two regional basketball tournament sites for the 2014-15 season.

 

                  The Eastern Regional event will once again be played in Fayetteville, while the Western Regional tournament will return to Winston-Salem after a stint in Greensboro. The dates for the tournaments are March 3 through March 7.

 

                  In the Eastern Regional, games will be held at the Crown Coliseum complex, at both the Crown Arena and Crown Coliseum.  In Winston-Salem, tournament games are planned at the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum and the coliseum annex.

 

                  “We are pleased to be returning to the Crown Coliseum complex for our Eastern Regional basketball tournament as well as to Winston-Salem for our Western Regional. We are extending the contracts at the two sites for an additional year,” said Davis Whitfield, NCHSAA commissioner.  “The Cumberland County schools have been an exceptional host in the East, and the city of Fayetteville and the Crown complex have worked hard to provide a wonderful atmosphere for our participating schools. 

 

                 “And due to other needs for the Greensboro Special Events Center, the Greensboro Sports Commission,  Wake Forest University and Winston-Salem have once again opened their athletic facilities to the NCHSAA for our event.  In typical Wake Forest fashion, we anticipate our student-athletes will have a first-class experience.”

 

                  Whitfield also said that the University of North Carolina at Greensboro had been a great host for Western Regional games during the last few years and noted the university’s continuing willingness to work with the NCHSAA.

 

                  Fayetteville had been an Eastern Regional host city earlier, with the tournament calling Cumberland County home from 1987 through '90. The regionals were held in Greenville from 1990 until the 2010-11 season, when they moved back to Fayetteville, where they have been for the past four years.  Winston-Salem hosted the Western tournament for several years until it moved to Greensboro, where it has been since 2009.

 

                  Winners through the NCHSAA playoffs eventually advance to regional play, with four men's teams and four women's teams from each classification qualifying. The winners from the regionals advance to state championship games.