Hy-Vee Shootout at Avila to feature some of area’s brightest stars

November 30, 2012

NEWS RELEASE

For sports fans, the holiday season means much more than family gatherings, yuletide cheer and the gift of giving. Tis also the season for holiday basketball tournaments, and for four days in mid-December, the 2012-13 Hy-Vee Shootout at Avila University’s Mabee Fieldhouse promises to provide hoops fans many great moments in which to cheer.

The 18th annual Hy-Vee Shootout – the 11th straight to be hosted at Avila – begins Wednesday, Dec. 12 with four games beginning at 4 p.m., includes four more games beginning at 4 Thursday afternoon, five beginning at 2:30 p.m. Friday and concludes Saturday, Dec. 15, with two four-game sessions beginning at 9 a.m. until the final game ends around 11 p.m.

All 21 games are scheduled to be broadcast live on Metro Sports.

According to Shawn Beldin, a producer at Metro Sports and director of the Hy-Vee Shootout, there will be ample opportunity to see some of the top high school basketball teams and individual talent in the Kansas-Missouri region over the four days. Highlights include:

• The 8:30 p.m. game Wednesday will pit Hogan Prep, the runner-up last season in Missouri Class 3, against perennial Kansas power Bishop Miege. Hogan Prep features 6-foot-3 junior forward Amaad Wainright, brother of former Raytown South star Ishmail Wainright, who has committed to play at Baylor.
  
  
• Thursday’s best matchup also could come at 8:30, when Lee’s Summit West, which advanced to the Missouri Class 5 state tournament last season, takes on an up-and-coming Washington squad.
  
  
• The 5:30 game Friday evening features a Blue Springs girls team that has finished as runners-up at the last three Missouri Class 5 state tournaments against defending Kansas 4A state champion McPherson. Blue Springs features Karyla Middlebrook, a 5-8 forward who has signed to play at Texas Tech. The following game at 7, Rock Bridge, which won the Missouri Class 5 girls state championship last season, takes on Olathe Northwest, the Kansas 6A runners-up.
  
  
• At 4:30 Saturday afternoon, the Ottawa boys take on Grandview. Ottawa features Xemi Ojeleye, a 6-8 senior forward who has signed to play next season at Duke. Ottawa has finished as the Kansas 4A state runners-up each of the last three years. The 7:30 game that evening pits Nixa against Blue Valley Northwest. Nixa has two NCAA Division I prospects in 6-3 guard Austin Ruder, who has already signed with Missouri State, and Jalen Norman, a 6-5 guard who is being recruited nationally by Division I programs. Nixa was runner-up in the Missouri Class 5 state tournament last season. BV Northwest features 6-1 junior guard Clayton Custer, who already has committed to Iowa State.

Admission to the tournament is $7 for adults per session. Saturday will include two separate sessions, one which will conclude with the end of the 1:30 p.m. game and the other which will begin with the 4:30 game. Parking is free.

Avila University is a private, co-educational, values-based liberal arts institution founded by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, offering undergraduate, graduate, and adult degree programs. Avila University is located at 119th and Wornall Rd in southwest suburban Kansas City, Mo.