The hardwood will be home for many an area hoops team during the holidays.

The seventh annual DeKalb County Holiday Tournament — the biggest hometown basketball showcase — will wrap up play this weekend.

Eight girls’ teams and eight boys’ teams will compete in championship and consolation brackets with each team to play at least two games.

Druid Hills, among the participating teams, will look to use the tourney as a platform to turn a season beset by attrition around.

The Red Devils are set to square off with host Arabia Mountain in the semifinals on Friday.

“We lost three or four players to transfers, so [the remaining] guys are kind of a new group,” Druid Hills coach Jerome Lee noted. “This is a team that just kind of came together … still trying to find our true identity.”

Druid Hills’ Achilles Heel thus far has been trying to contain smaller, quicker teams. That pretty much sums up Arabia Mountain, which starts three guards.

“I’ve seen them play twice — they’re a really good ballclub,” Lee said. “They’re extremely quick and they play tough defense.

“They’re gonna be hard to handle, especially at their place.”

The Red Devils will try to counter Arabia’s shifty backcourt-laden squad with a roster brimming with players around 6 feet 3 like senior guards DeShon Burgess and Jacob King. Dynamic 6 foot 8 big Clarence Williams is the exception.

Druid Hills’ showing in DeKalb Holiday may go a long way in helping it get its 2012-13 back on course.

The DeKalb Holiday tourney field features the following participating teams: Arabia Mountain (boys and girls), Chamblee (boys and girls), Clarkston (boys and girls), Druid Hills (boys

and girls), Dunwoody (girls), Lithonia (boys), McNair (boys and girls), Meadowcreek (girls), Towers (boys and girls) and Stone Mountain (boys).

Tournament play, which kicked off last weekend, continues with second round action on Friday.

The championship and consolation finals set for Saturday at

Arabia Mountain High School.