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This is the first installment in a series highlighting the basketball teams participating in The Bank of Missouri Heartland Hoopfest 2008.
The Perry Park Center is proud to announce the date for the 5th Annual 2008 The Bank of Missouri Heartland Hoopfest. The stage will be set on December 20th for eight of the most exciting high school basketball games in the Southeast Missouri region. All local schools will be participating, along with five programs out of the St. Louis area. In addition this year, teams from Tennessee and Arkansas will be taking part in this event. Also, for the very first time, the 2008 Hoopfest will feature a girl's game between McCluer South-Berkeley and Millington Central (TN).
Varsity boys' basketball coaches Bruce Valleroy of St. Vincent High School and first year coach, Adam Stoneking, of Oak Ridge will battle out the first game of the Hoopfest.
The Oak Ridge Blue Jays swallowed the bitter pill of a 31-39 loss to the Indians in the final game of last year's regular season. Stoneking, a former assistant coach with Notre Dame High School, and his team will be attempting to avenge this loss, but it won't be easy against Coach Valleroy's squad, which posted a record last year of 11-13 while playing in the Jefferson County Conference.
The Indians are stacked with six returning lettermen, three of which started for the 07-08 Indians team. Among the returning starters are senior guard, Justin L'Hote who was named first team all-conference, and his teammate, fellow senior guard, Aaron Dzik who was selected all-conference honorable mention for the 2007-08 season.
"We will play man to man or zone defense depending on the situation," exclaims Valleroy when asked about his game plan, "We like to get the ball up and down the floor in a control situation. We will play hard and compete."
When asked about the Blue Jays style of play Coach Stoneking responded, " We are really focusing on the defensive side of the game, so I want to make the offense as simple as possible for these kids. We'll look to exploit mis-match opportunities as much as possible. Last year a lot of teams zoned up on defense against this team as our top scorers mainly scored going to the basket, however, our shooting has improved tremendously so I think it will be difficult for teams to do that again this year."
Although Oak Ridge only returns three letterman from their 2007-08 team, they will return two young, key players that will most likely be used to exploit these mis-matches. Junior, Garrett Light has been an all-conference performer in both his freshman and sophomore campaigns, and sophomore, Brett Thomas capped off his freshman season with an all-conference award."
"We run a match-up zone defense that can be extended to a full-court press. We will try to pressure the ball as much as possible and try to make it as chaotic as possible for the other team. Our goal is to not let the other team get comfortable offensively. Although this is a new defense, the team performed extremely well this summer when we used it," according to Coach Stoneking.
This game between the St. Vincent Indians and Oak Ridge Bluejays will take place at the Perry Park Center at 9:30 a.m. It will be followed by the game between Saxony Lutheran and Chester at 11:05 a.m. Information on this game will be coming your way next week.
For more information on The Bank of Missouri Heartland Hoopfest, a complete game schedule, or how to be a sponsor, log on to www.heartlandhoopfest.com.
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