HIGHLAND OPTIMIST / SCOTT CREDIT UNION SHOOTOUT, 2012 PRESS RELEASE

The 21st Annual Highland Scott Credit Union Boys Basketball Shootout Classic will once again bring some of the top basketball players and teams to the Highland High School gymnasium. The 2012 event has been scheduled for Saturday, January 7th, 2012 and will feature five games from teams from and Missouri. This year’s hoopfest will again feature a girl’s varsity game starting out at 1:00 p.m. between Highland & O’Fallon. Also making the trip to Highland will be Cahokia, East St. Louis, Breese Central, Champaign Central and Carbondale, from Illinois and out‐of‐state entries: Vianney and McCluer North from Missouri.

This year games will feature several of the best area teams with outstanding matchups. The shoot‐out features two undeafted teams at press time between Breese Central (15‐0) ranked second in the state of Illinois will play against Vianney of Kirkwood, Mo. (11‐0). Other teams to watch with great records are Cahokia (10‐4) that just won the Centralia Holiday Tournment vs. East St. Louis (11‐2) which got third place in the Collinsville Holiday Tournment. Mcluer North (10‐1) last years Missouri State Champion & winner of the Collinville Holiday Tournament with will play Champaign Central (8‐4).

Key division 1 college recruits to watch this year are Jordon Granger 6’8” senior center for McCluer North committed to Auburn. George Suggs 6’10” senior center for Vianney being recruited by Bradley will be playing against highly recruited Brandon Book 6’6” senior center from Breese Central. Other recruits to watch include East St. Louis junior Deshawn Munson being recruited by Illinois, Missouri & Tennesse, Cahokia senior Keenan Minor being recruited by SLU, Cahokia has two sophmores Darius Austin and CJ Rivers that are future division 1 recruits and Highland Geoffrey Hartlieb 6’5” guard committed to Quincy University.

Ticket prices have been set at $5.00 for students (K‐12) and $8.00 for adults. Admission prices are good for the entire day and include the Shootout souvenir program. Tickets are now available at Highland High School, Highland Chamber of Commerce and Highland Scott Credit Union.

HIGHLAND OPTIMIST/ SCOTT CREDIT UNION BASKETBALL SHOOTOUT, January 7th, 2012 Warm‐up – 11:00 a.m. Highland Girls JV (IL) vs. O’Fallon JV Girls (IL) Game 1 ‐ 1:00 p.m. Highland Girls (IL) vs. O’Fallon Girls (IL) Game 2 ‐ 2:45 p.m. Cahokia (IL) vs. East St. Louis (IL) Game 3 ‐ 4:30 p.m. Vianney (Kirkwod, MO ) vs. Breese Central (IL) Game 4 ‐ 6:15 p.m. Champaign Central (IL) vs. McCluer North (Florissant Mo) Game 5 ‐ 8:00 p.m. Highland (IL) vs. Carbondale (IL)

Highland Shootout, 2012 Team Capsules ‐ Game 1 ‐ 1:00PM

Highland (IL) Girls Highland Girls for the past few years have been one of the top 3A Teams in . This year is a rebuilding year for the Highland Girls team and is under the direction of first year coach Stephanie Harris and are off to a (8‐7) record. This is Highland Girls fifth appearance in the Shootout and they hold a 2 – 2 record in the shootout. Highland team are led by seniors Emily Michael 6’0” who was on the All‐tournament team at the Mascoutah Holiday Tourney and Sarah Torbaugh 5’7”. Other key players are senior Codi Gramlich and freshman Olivia LaPorta.

Both teams should be familiar with each other because they played against each other at the Mascoutah Holiday tournament in which O’Fallon won (49 – 41) to take 5th place.

O’Fallon (IL) Girls This is O’Fallon Girls first visit appearance to the shootout. The O’Fallon Girls team has an overall record of 7‐3. O’Fallon girls compete in the Southwestern Conference and took fifth place in the Mascoutah Holiday Tournament with a win over the Highland. Key players for O’Fallon are senior Taylor Klingelhoefer 5’6” who was on the All‐tournament team at the Mascoutah Holiday tourney, senior Katlin Kendall 5’11” and sophomore Katie Roustio 6’2”.

Highland Shootout, 2010 Team Capsules – Game 2 – 2:45PM

Cahokia (IL) H.S. This is Cahokia 1st visit to the Highland Optimist Shootout. Cahokia team is ranked very high in local polls and just finished with a 1st place finish at the Centralia Holiday Tournament and have current overall record of (10‐4). Key players to watch are Keenan Minor 6’1’ junior guard being recruited by St. Louis University, Sophomores CJ Rivers 6’3” guard and Darius Austin 6’6” that are both being recruited by schools like Illinois, DePaul, Tennessee, Michigan & St. Louis University

East St. Louis (IL) H.S. This is East St. Louis 6th appearance to the Highland Optimist Shootout. They have an overall record 3‐2 in previous shootouts. East St. Louis team is ranked very high in local polls and just finished with a third place finish at the Collinsville Holiday Tournament and have current overall record of (11‐2). Key players to watch are Deshawn Munson 6’4’ junior between recruited by Illinois, Missouri and Tennessee, Montez Williams 6’6”, Brandon Johnson 6’3” .

Highland Shootout, 2010 Team Capsules – Game 3 – 4:30PM

Vianney (Kirkwood, MO) H.S. This is Vianney High School first visit to Highland Optimist Shootout. Vianney High School competes in the always competitive St. Louis Metro Catholic Conference. This year Vianney is off to the best start is school history. They currently highly ranked in local polls and off to an undeafted season with an 11‐0 start. They won the Meramec Holiday Tournament over Christmas break. The team is led by senior guards Tony Cochran and Richard Dorhauer. Senior center George Suggs 6’10” is being recruited by Bradley University. Other key players are junior Brad Woodson and senior Lelis Djona.

Breese Central (IL) H.S. Breese Central is making their 5th appearance to the shootout this year. They have a record of 4‐0 in the previous shootout. Central is off to a great start (15‐0) and are currently ranked #2 in the state. Central won the Mater Dei Holiday Tournament. Central features a Division 1 prospect in 6’6” Brandon Book who was MVP of the Mater Dei Holiday tournament. Other key players are junior Austin Rickhoff 6’3” and senior Nick Grapperhaus 5’10” and super sophomore Jacob Timmermann 6’0” also a member of the All‐tournament team at the Mater Dei Holiday All‐tournament team.

Highland Shootout, 2010 Team Capsules – Game 4 – 6:15PM

Champaign Central (IL) H.S. This is Champaign Central High School first visit to Highland Optimist Shootout. Champaign Central High School competes in the Illinois Big Twelve Conference. They are currently 8‐4 at press time and are consistently one of the best large schools in Illinois each year. They have all their starters returning from last year and have 10 senior players on their roster. Key players to watch are seniors Clayton Jones6’0’, Corvon Butler 6’5” and sophomore Jordon Caroline 6’5”

McCluer North (Florissant, MO) H.S. This is McCluer North 1st appearance to the Highland Optimist Shootout. McCluer North won the large school Missouri state championship last year and are off to a 10 – 1 start this year. They highly ranked in most local polls and won the Collinsville Holiday Tournament. McCluer North is led by Jordon Granger 6’8” senior committed to Division 1 Auburn University. Jordon Granger was the MVP at the Collinsville Holiday Tourney. Other key players for McCluer North are Byron Ray 5’8”, Dorian Holland 6’3” and Galen Brown 6’4”.

Pictures of Jordon Granger from McCluer North

Highland Shootout, 2010 Team Capsules – Game 5 – 8:00PM

HIGHLAND (IL) H.S. Highland High School, a member of the Mississippi Valley Conference and are having and up & down season this year. Currently the Bulldogs are 8‐6 under coach Todd Strong. The Bulldogs are led by senior Geoffrey Hartlieb 6’5” Division 2 recruit to Quincy University and All‐ tournament team at the Mater Dei Holiday Tourney. Key other players are senior Ben Sparlin 6’5, junior Mitch Carriger 5’10” and senior Austin Welz 6’3”. Highland High School is hoping to improve on their overall shootout record of 7 ‐ 13 from the past 20 years.

Carbondale (IL) H.S. Carbondale is making their 5th appearance to the shootout this year. They have a record of 0‐4 in the previous shootouts. Carbondale also is having tough start this year with no returning starters from last year and are currently 2‐7 overall. Carbondale competes in the very competitive South Seven Conference. Key players to watch for Carbondale are junior Filipe Rech 7’0”, senior Sam Strus 6’6” and sophomore Elijah Bidinger 6’0”.