December 15, 2001 11:49 PM
Shootout move to
Augustana is a success
By Steve Tappa, staff sports writer Randy Norton certainly didn't mind Saturday that
his Davenport Assumption Knights clinched a third straight Iowa-Illinois Shootout for the
Iowans.
However, the longtime Assumption coach was just as excited about the outcome of the
eighth annual high school boys' hoops tournament moving from The Mark to Augustana
College's Carver P.E. Center this year.
``Obviously, The Mark is a fabulous facility and we loved playing there, but this was
great,'' Norton said, echoing the thoughts of all those involved in the Swiss Valley
Farms-sponsored event.
``This was a nice atmosphere -- more of a basketball atmosphere than at The Mark -- and
the way we were treated by our hosts and our sponsors was just unbelievable. They made
this the best Shootout ever.''
Crowd figures were unavailable at press time. However, all five games drew
strong-to-excellent crowds, with some longtime Shootout watchers wondering if this edition
didn't set an event attendance mark.
Augustana has already cleared a date for the tourney's return next December.
The fans that showed Saturday were treated to excellent basketball. All but one game
was decided in the final minute, one turned on free throws in the final seconds and
another went into overtime.
Iowa claimed its first dominating win in the series, taking four of the five contests.
The Iowans won by a 3-2 margin the previous two seasons, and also won 2-1 in 1995 when the
Shootout was a six-team event.
Illinois still clings to a 20-15 edge in head-to-head matchups, but now the states are
knotted at four tournament wins each.
Besides Assumption's 44-43 win over United Township, giving Iowa the win were victories
by Bettendorf (57-50 over Rock Island) and Dubuque Wahlert (50-31 over Geneseo).
In between those latter two contests, Alleman was the only Illinois-side winner,
rallying past winless Davenport West, 52-49 in overtime. The finale was Davenport North
edging Moline, 59-53.
Copyright 2000, Moline Dispatch
Publishing Co. |
