Annual NYPD basketball tournament honors memories of 2 slain detectives

Hundreds of student athletes competed Friday in a youth basketball tournament hosted by the NYPD.

The annual Detectives Rivera and Mora Basketball Classic on Manhattan's Lower East Side honors the memories of two NYPD detectives who were killed in the line of duty.

This marked the third year for the tournament, which was held at Basketball City at on South Street.

Eyewitness News was there as boys teams - including those from Suffolk County, Bridgeport, CT and Newark, NJ and Houston, TX - faced off on one side of the massive facility and girls teams battled it out on the other.

Not only were the young athletes playing for scholarship money and helping build community, they were also learning about the legacy of the two heroic NYPD officers who made the ultimate sacrifice.

Wilbert Mora, 27, and Jason Rivera, 22, were fatally shot on January 21, 2022 as they responded to a domestic call in Harlem.

More than 600 student athletes, ages 11 to 18, competed this year in three divisions.

They comprised 40 teams, all coached by police officers from around the country.

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