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Last updated 12-27-24 by Pete Ivanic
--2024 The MercyOne Genesis Shootout had the Iowa side schools flexing their muscles in the early day matchups at the event's 30th anniversary. With games played just four days before Christmas Day, the Davenport public schools all picked up wins to begin the event, while the Illinois side closed the day with two emphatic wins by Rock Island and Moline. West’s Caden Green scored 21 points as the Flacons defeated an improved Alleman squad, 61-48. North’s Johnale Johnson jr. and David Joiner each poured in 15 points as the Wildcats buried Geneseo 67-23. Central’s Carter Light and Jordan Smith connected on three 3-pointers while each scoring 14 points for the Blue Devils 74-56 victory over Gaesburg. Bettendorf shot 50% from the floor and got a 24-point performance from Amari Washington while defeating Galesburg 78-47. Pleasant Valley outlasted United Township 34-33 in the only close game of the event. Rock Island and Moline were flawless, taking the last two matchups; the Rock’s disposed of Assumption 63-43 and were led by a 24 point effort from Lawson Zulu. Moline’s Braden Freeman scored 25 points and Trey Taylor had 24 points as the Maroons beat North Scott 71-53.
--2023 The 29th annual Genesis Shootout was a day that will be remembered for a terrific triple overtime battle and some lopsided numbers that led to the widest win margin in the long-standing event’s proud history. For the second time at the Genesis Shootout, the :35 shot clock was approved for each game and just like in 2022, it didn’t have much of an effect on the games. The Iowa side schools won by a margin of 21 points enroute to winning the first four games of the event, eclipsing 2022’s 20 point Iowa win margin. Davenport Central had no issues running past Alleman in game one 72-37, as the Blue Devil defense caused 16 Pioneer turnovers. Maddox Sullivan grabbed 11 rebounds and Carter Light had 13 points for Central. Davenport North jumped on Geneseo in game two and led 17-2 after the first while having three Wildcats with double digit points for a 53-30 North win. Davenport West held Galesburg to 35% field goal shooting in game 3, for a Falcon 75-39 win. Idris Thomas led all scorers at the event with 24 points for West. Eventual class 3A Iowa state champs Assumption had three players score double digits, including Navon Shabazz’s 16 points to help the Knights take down UTHS, 71-46 in game four. Lucas Austin of Sterling had 16 points, including 4 of 5 from the three-point line, to go along with 13 rebounds as the Golden Warriors outlasted Bettendorf for a 57-53 win in the first close game of the day. But the highlight of the day was a heated triple overtime thriller from Pleasant Valley and Rock Island, as the Rocks won 70-69. KJ Lamonte's buzzer-beating heroics at the end of the first overtime, sinking a thrilling 3-pointer, kept the Rocks alive in just the second ever triple overtime game at the Genesis Shootout. Dezmund Jackson was 6 of 9 from the three-point line for Rock Island. Jackson and Pleasant Valley’s Coy Kipper led their respective teams in scoring with 20 points each. The excitement didn’t carry over to the last matchup of the day as Moline stormed out to a 23-4 lead after the first quarter, cruising to a 61-40 win over North Scott. Treyvon Taylor scored 24 points and tallied 8 rebounds for the Maroons, as Jamarion Readus paced the Lancers with 18 points.
— 2022: Genesis celebrated its 15th anniversary as the event’s
presenting sponsor. The experimental 35-second high school
shot clock was used for the first time, with the Illinois High School
Association approving the use to match the rules Iowa teams
began playing by during the 2022-23 season. Despite the shot
clock, this Shootout fell 19 points shy of the highest scoring year
in event history. Instead, with the first two games decided by 45
and 39 points, respectively, this became the biggest blowout
(20 points per game) on the recordbooks at the annual bragging
right battle. This Shootout also set a standard with three teams
scoring over 70 points in a game (18 total now in event history
with Davenport North, United Township and Sterling all eclipsing
the mark in wins). Alleman also broke its year-old record for
lowest score by a team with 20 points in a loss. Iowa kept winning
bragging rights thanks to Bettendorf edging Rock Island in the
final minute of the closest game of the day (59-54). Bettendorf’s
Division I college recruit Caden Wilkins scored 28 points (2
from becoming the 8th 30-or-more scorer in Shootout lore) and
teammate Asher Wade missed tying the single-game rebounding
record by 1 (finishing with 18). Sterling’s Andre Klaver (27 points)
also just missed the scoring mark despite a 21-point first half.
Additionally, United Township’s Omarion Roberts posted 9
assists — one from tying the Shootout record. The marquee
matchup featured a pair of current University of Iowa players in
Moline teammates Owen Freeman and Brock Harding. Freeman’s
quadruple-double bid (10 points/12 rebounds/6 blocks/4 assists)
helped the eventual Illinois Class 4A state champs to pull away
late from Iowa Class 4A state semifinalist Pleasant Valley, 54-43.
The 6 blocks tied a Shootout record.
— 2021: Augustana celebrated a 20th anniversary of hosting the
event by having three former Shootout players make their head
coaching debuts — Ryan Hill (Davenport Central), Marquez Davis
(Davenport North) and Ryan Thompson (Galesburg). That nearly
doubled the total of the event’s alumni coaches to eight. Sterling
also was added to the 14-team, 7-game mix, making a successful
debut by beating Central. Records were set in the opener for
most lopsided game (70 points), highest scoring team (Davenport
West 94 points) and lowest scoring team (Alleman 24 points).
That nearly doubled the biggest blowout previously (37 points)
and the Falcons topped the scoring record by 14 points. Coupled
with a 36-point decision in Game 3 of the day (Davenport North
over Geneseo), that helped this Shootout rank as the most
lopsided in history (19.57 average) despite featuring four games
decided by 7 points or fewer. This Shootout just missed being the
highest scoring, though, by a mere 4 points. Moline edged North
Scott, 58-51 in a main event featuring teams ranked 10th in their
respective state’s initial Class 4A polls. However, Pleasant Valley
holding off a furious Rock Island comeback in another meeting of
state-ranked squads sealed another series victory for Iowa.
— 2020: The 27th version of the local Christmas-time tradition
was forced to postpone with Illinois schools unable to play sports
because of state government-mandated, COVID-19 restrictions.
Illinois schools were eventually allowed to play a truncated six-
week season with games limited to local jurisdictions in February
and March of 2021.
— 2019: Geneseo’s Colorado State-bound Isaiah Rivera padded
his lead in career scoring at the Shootout with the day’s most
dominating line — a 31-point, 10-rebound, 4-assist effort to finish
with 97 points in four games — oddly, all of them losses. Rivera
was kept winless in Shootout history by a record-setting 80-point
explosion from Davenport Central in the highest-scoring game
ever in event history (combined 146 points). Davenport West
also scored 74 points in a win over Alleman to rate among the 14
teams now to ever score 70 or more points in a Shootout game.
The fireworks added up to the highest-scoring Shootout ever at
789 combined points, an average of 56.3 points per team. The
earliest date ever used for a Shootout (Dec. 14) also saw Iowa take
a 76-74 lead in all-time games by scoring a 6-1 win over Illinois —
the fifth straight victory in the series for the Hawkeye state.
Genesis Shootout HISTORY
By Steve Tappa, Shootout Historian
Davenport Central vs. Alleman
Davenport North vs. Geneseo
Davenport West vs. Galesburg
Assumption vs. United Township
Bettendorf vs. Sterling
Pleasant Valley vs. Rock Island
North Scott vs. Moline
Game 1 (10:00 AM)
Game 2 (11:30 AM)
Game 3 (1:00 PM)
Game 4 (2:30 PM)
Game 5 (4:00 PM)
Game 6 (5:30 PM)
Game 7 (7:00 PM) SCORES AND STATS
updated throughout the day at
genesishealth.com/shootout
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— 2018: Iowa celebrated the Shootout’s 25th anniversary by
pulling off the first sweep since the field expanded to seven
teams from each side of the Mississippi River in 2010. Bettendorf
delivered the coup de grace in the featured finale, rallying past
Rock Island with a fourth-quarter comeback, 56-47. Bettendorf’s
Ohio State-signed star D.J. Carton finished with 21 points, 9
assists and 5 rebounds, with 9 points and a thunderous dunk
coming in the deciding run. The Hawkeye state also claimed
a battle between Top 5 state-ranked conference leaders when
North Scott and Cortaviaus Seales remained unbeaten on the
season with a 59-47 decision over Moline. Davenport Central also
set the event’s scoring record (79 points) and tied another mark
(with a 37-point blowout) in racing past Alleman. A pair of players
from the Illinois side did their best to grab headlines, though, as
Riverdale’s Carter Wainwright and Geneseo’s Colorado State-bound
Isaiah Rivera each scored 33 in losses, coming up a point short
of the event’s individual scoring mark. Illinois had the only other
sweeps in 1996 — when only four games were played — and in
1994, when the event started with a three-game format at The
Mark of the Quad Cities, now Vibrant Arena at The Mark.
— 2017: Iowa claimed the cross-river showdown for the third
straight season with a 5-2 win in the head-to-head matchups
highlighted by only the second 3-0 day for the Davenport Public
Schools. West and North also joined the short list of teams
scoring 70-or-more points in the Shootout. Galesburg also scored
the event’s second-biggest blowout ever, with a 36-point win
over Bettendorf, which was missing Carton because of injury. The
breakout star was West’s Trey Sampson, who’s 26 points were the
most of the day and led the Falcons to only their second win ever
in 24 Shootouts, a 30-point decision over Geneseo.
— 2016: United Township All-Stater Tray Buchanan hit a
last-second 3-pointer to make the Panthers a 50-48 winner over
Bettendorf in the featured nightcap. The thrilling game-winner
allowed the North Dakota-signed senior to eclipse the Shootout’s
single-game scoring record with 34 points and helped UT break
a tie at 13-9 with Bettendorf for the event’s winningest school.
Despite those fireworks, Iowa schools scored a 4-3 victory over
their Illinois counterparts, with Galesburg tying the record for
lowest-scoring output, managing only 27 in a 17-point loss to
Pleasant Valley.
— 2015: Augustana celebrated a 15th anniversary as host of
the backyard bragging rights battle. New Assumption coach
Matt Fitzpatrick became the fifth player from the Shootout’s past
to graduate into a head coach at the event. By winning six of
seven games, Iowa scored the largest victory in event history
up to that time. Despite that edge, only the 14th 20-point
decision on record prevented this from being the closest
Shootout ever, with Moline falling to Central, 68-48, without
injured star Andy McLaughlin.
— 2014: Only UT (61-48 victim of Pleasant Valley) and Alleman
(51-36 loss to Davenport North) failed to register victories in a
5-2 victory for Illinois. The highlight was Rocky’s 51-49 comeback
victory over North Scott, with future NBA G-Leaguer Tyler Hall
scoring a game-high 25 points in the state-ranked showdown.
The spotlight finale drew a standing-room only crowd and
featured four major-college recruits — including the North Scott
trio of Marlon Stewart (Creighton), Cortez Seales (North Dakota)
and Grant Graham (Northwest Missouri State). Riverdale also
edged Central, 65-64 in the curtain-raiser, for the seventh
one-point thriller in 21 seasons. Cole Solomon’s 26 points led
the way for Riverdale and topped all scorers on the day.
— 2013: Four days before Christmas, the event celebrated its
20th anniversary, with the Hawkeye state unwrapping a second
consecutive win in the seven-game format. The victory came
despite West remaining winless in 20 shootout starts. Assumption
alum Joe Ewen became the fourth former Shootout participant
to also serve as a head coach in the event as Davenport North’s
rookie boss. Also notable: Geneseo and Moline played two
games with travel, with both also involved in DeKalb’s Chuck
Dayton Holiday Tournament. Geneseo started at the shootout
and ended a long day in DeKalb while Moline pulled the
opposite shift up-and-down Interstate-88. Bettendorf’s
Iowa-bound Nicholas Baer (25 points) and West’s Michael Evans
(19 rebounds) shined individually.
— 2012: Iowa won the event for the first time since 2004,
though a 4-3 victory could have been even bigger. Assumption
was edged by Rocky, 61-60 in only the second finale (and fifth
Shootout game ever) settled in overtime. Alleman also rallied
to top Davenport West in a 66-64 thriller. The Mississippi Athletic
Conference used victories by three unbeaten powers to forge
one of the most-lopsided Shootouts in history. All four Iowa wins
were by 10-or-more points, led by North Scott’s 32-point victory
over Galesburg -- the second-biggest victory in Shootout
history. Iowa’s wins were led by promising college recruits such
as Bettendorf junior Cole Clearman (26 points), and North Scott
sophomores Cortez Seales (16) and Grant Graham (17).
— 2011: Western Big 6 Conference heavyweights UT, Rocky and
Moline won the final three games of the night, giving Illinois its
fourth straight victory over crossriver rival Iowa, and in comeback
fashion, too boot. Moline’s victory was the capper, coming
against Assumption in a battle between the top two teams in the
QC Prep Basketball Power Poll. UT also claimed a Shootout-best
13th win. Riverdale All-Stater Wes DeClercq enjoyed the biggest
highlight, though, scoring a Shootout-record 32 points in Illinois’
only other victory.
— 2010: West remained winless in 17 Shootout tries, falling in
the fourth overtime contest in event history to fellow tournament
founder Moline. The victory was part of four straight wins by Big
6 teams to end the day. Future NBA point guard Chasson Randle
scored 13 points for eventual Class 3A state title-winner Rock
Island in the featured finale, a 67-41 blowout of North Scott.
The 10th anniversary of Augustana hosting the event also saw
Riverdale and Pleasant Valley make successful Shootout debuts as
the event grew to include 14 teams for the first time.
— 2009: The pre-Christmas tournament’s “Sweet 16” birthday
bash included Stanford coach Johnny Dawkins in attendance
to watch his prized recruit, Rocky’s Randle, post a 24-point,
11-rebound double-double. That effort led to a 76-52 runaway
victory over Central in the featured nightcap, and a 4-2 Shootout
win for Illinois.
— 2008: With State Farm pulling its funding two months before
tip-off, Genesis Health System jumped into the title-sponsor
role at the last minute. On the court, UT’s rookie head coach,
Marc Polite, became the third Shootout player to also serve
as a head coach in the event, though his club fell despite a
monster 27-point, 11-rebound effort by future overseas pro
Kannon Burrage.
— 2007: A triple-overtime classic and founding member Moline’s
return helped mark the second tie in Shootout history. Moline
ended a five-season hiatus by replacing Orion, then edged
Assumption by three points. That thriller got trumped, though,
by the marquee matchup between major-college recruits — AAU
teammates Tyler Storm of Geneseo (Northern Illinois) and L.A.
Pomlee of Central (Iowa State). Central pulled out the 64-61
decision in three overtimes. Alleman also memorably won without
head coach Steve Smithers, who missed the game for the birth of
his first grandchild. Assistant Mike Crawford piloted the Pioneers
past North.
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— 2006: A couple of sponsors backed out late, but the Shootout
was again a success at Augie, especially for the Illinois schools,
which earned a 5-1 decision in the head-to-head matchups. The
highlights included tiny Orion’s one-point decision over North
Scott, with Kramer Matzen hitting a 12-foot, buzzer-beating floater
for the win. That ruined the Shootout coaching debut of Shamus
Budde, the second player-turned-head coach in event history.
— 2005: With North Scott and Orion added, the Shootout
expanded to a six-game format, ending in a 3-3 tie for the first
time. Bettendorf forged the shared bragging rights by edging
Rocky, 54-52, in a thrilling finale. Alleman also prevented the
400th career victory of North Scott’s Dave Wessel, with the former
West coach falling to a head-scratching 0-12 in Shootout action.
Behind new title sponsor State Farm Insurance, the participating
schools each earned $1,800, then an event-high. The sophomore
portion of the tourney moved to Rock Island High School.
— 2004: Bettendorf eventually won Iowa’s Class 4A state
title — but suffered its lone loss of the season in the Shootout
finale, 38-35 to Lance Young-led Alleman. The Hawkeye state
still won bragging rights behind wins by three Davenport schools
— Assumption, North and Central. The latter victory came in
a wild one-point decision over UT, with future NFL lineman
Austin Howard fouled on a desperation in-bounds heave,
before ignoring a large and loud crowd to calmly sink a pair
of game-winning free throws.
— 2003: New Assumption coach Duffy Conroy, a former
standout player for the Knights, became the Shootout’s first
playing participant to also serve as a head coach in the event,
albeit in a losing effort. New Central coach Mike Reid, a former
assistant to his Hall-of-Fame father Duncan at Rocky, also failed
to beat his alma mater in the marquee matchup. Sophomore
games moved from Augie’s PepsiCo Center to Alleman’s Don
Morris Gym. McLaughlin Volvo and Southeast National Bank
joined Swiss Valley Farms as presenting sponsors.
— 2002: With Moline coach Frank Dexter deciding to leave
the event — wanting to play super-sectional competition if the
Maroons were not playing on a super-sectional floor like The
Mark — Big 6 foe Galesburg joined the five-team Illinois rotation
for the first time. The Silver Streaks won, but Illinois still lost
bragging rights for the fourth straight season. The UT-Bettendorf
battle featured a return to Carver Center for former Augustana
coach Steve Yount, with the new UT head coach matched against
one of his former Vikings players, UT grad and new Bettendorf
coach Kevin Skillett. North’s future overseas pro Kyle Lamonte
tied the Shootout’s single-game scoring mark of 30 points in
a loss to Galesburg. The event ranked as the highest-scoring
shootout until 2019 with each team averaging 56.1 points.
— 2001: Economics forced the Shootout to move from The
Mark (now Vibrant Arena) to Augie. Swiss Valley Farms became
the title sponsor, and several other companies, including the
Quad City Radio Group, threw their weight behind the event.
The date also got pushed up to Dec. 15 — more than a week
ahead of Christmas for the first time. The athletic directors at
Alleman (Larry Schulte) and Bettendorf (Mark Brooks) are credited
with behind-the-scenes work keeping the event going. Schulte
the coach was rewarded on the court, with his Pioneers pulling
out an overtime win over West. That was Illinois’ only victory
of the day, though, with Iowa winning the Shootout for a third
straight season. Dubuque Wahlert also became the first school
from outside of the Quad-Cities area to participate, with Central
needing to opt out for a year because of a scheduling conflict.
— 2000: Nextel took over as the title sponsor, but the storm
clouds continued to gather over the event’s financial future. The
third winter storm of the week didn’t help at the gate, either, with
the Shootout played despite the conditions canceling events
locally a night earlier. On the court, Rocky’s Hall of Fame coach
Duncan Reid returned from a season-starting IHSA suspension
to see the Rocks win. Nick Jones scored a Shootout-best
30 points to pace Rocky’s 62-57 win over Central. Iowa won
the event again, though, 3-2 with two-time defending state
champ Assumption, North and Bettendorf winning games by a
combined 15 points.
— 1999: Sprint PCS became the new title sponsor to keep the
Shootout alive at The Mark. Suggestions continued to pour in,
such as moving the event away from the final Saturday before
Christmas, or perhaps to the first Saturday after New Year’s, to
help attract bigger crowds and keep the Shootout going. On the
court, Assumption edged Rocky in a showdown of state-ranked
squads in the event finale, giving Iowa a hard-fought 3-2 head-
to-head victory. The closest Shootout in history included all five
games decided by seven points or less, and a 5.4 average margin
of victory. The event also remains the lowest-scoring shootout
on record, with each team averaging 45.3 points. Helping that
dubious mark was the lowest-scoring game in event history, with
Geneseo edging West, 30-27.
— 1998: In the first overtime game in Shootout history,
Bettendorf rallied for a 64-53 win over Alleman. Despite that
thriller, 1998 still ranks as the most lopsided in Shootout history,
with five games decided by a whopping 18.6 points. Pushing
up that average was Assumption’s 78-41 win over Geneseo,
which set the standard for lopsided victories and a single
team output for two decades. Off the court, officials express
concern over the lack of money generated by the event for
the participating schools.
— 1997: The event expanded to five games, with the inclusion
of two of the oldest local schools, Rock Island and Davenport
Central. Moline’s Arizona-bound Traves Wilson, a night after
becoming the Maroons’ all-time leading scorer, equalled his
Shootout-high 21 points from a year before. All of the sophomore
games were moved off site for the first time. Citgo-Midway Oil
took over as the presenting title sponsor.
— 1996: The event expanded to four games and moved to a
Saturday-before-Christmas date. In the newest matchup, Alleman
handled cross-river parochial-school rival Assumption to highlight
a 4-0 Illinois sweep. With The Mark scheduled to host the first
Illinois Super-Sectional in the Quad-Cities since 1967 later in
the season, Lincoln Land also got a win by eventual Sweet 16
participant Moline.
— 1995: The Iowa schools scored a measure of revenge, winning
two of the three rematches from 1994. Only United Township
and its Eastern Illinois-bound star Marc Polite managed a win for
Illinois. Another Friday night crowd of 4,000 enjoyed the varsity
tripleheader. Local Chevrolet dealers were again the sponsors.
— 1994: The dream of Moline athletic director Mike Owens
debuted on a Friday evening, Dec. 23, at Moline’s year-old
downtown civic center, The Mark of the Quad Cities. The three
founding Illinois high schools (Moline, Geneseo and United
Township) swept the Iowa trio (Bettendorf, West and North) in
the first Iowa-Illinois Shootout. Sophomore matchups between
the schools were played on site earlier in the day. UT and Polite
topped defending Iowa state champ West in the initial varsity
game. Geneseo also knocked off North and future NBA player
Ricky Davis, a sophomore who had already verbally committed
to Iowa. Moline and another future major-college player, Wilson,
also beat Bettendorf and future North Scott coach Budde.
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