Was it junior Shaun Lvingston? Or junior Xavier Price? Or 6'10 junior C.J. Giles? Or was it any of the outstanding juniors on West Aurora (IL) -- Shaun Pruitt, Justin Cerasoli or Jaeh Thomas? Or Hazelwood Central's Kaylen Grimes, possible the nation's tougest inside player?

Or maybe they just came to see Bruce Weber recruit Randal Falker.

Whatever the reason, the Purdue staff spent the day last Thursday in St. Louis scouting the KMOX Shootout, an 18-team feast of top teams and top talent.

Shaun Livingston showed why he is ranked as the nation's top point guard prospect. He led Peoria Central with 26 points on 11-of-17 shooting in an overtime victory against DeSmet. Justin Cerasoli also had an outstanding showing, hitting for 27 points in an overtime loss to nationally No. 2 ranked Seattle Rainier Beach (WA).

Indianapolis Pike was invited to participate in the tournament, but declined.

Liddell sits himself in win

Adam Liddell had 10 points, 10 rebounds and six assists in a 66-51 win over Goshen.

Adam came out of the game in the third quarter with three fouls and a comfortable lead, then asked to stay out so teammates could get more time. That led to Zach Christlieb having a career-high 20 points and six boards.

Coach Cliff Hawkins said to the Evening Star, "We before me is one of our four trademarks."

Dekalb's first two scores of the game were from Liddell dunks.

On Tuesday, Dekalb won the 500th game in the history of their program with a 69-46 victory over Leo. Liddell had another well-balanced evening with 13 points, eight boards, six assists and six blocks.

Scoreboard

Ije Nwankwo led Country Day (1-0) with 21 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks in their season opener.

James Hardy scored 27 points in a come-from-behind victory over No. 3 Fort Wayne Harding. Elmhurst knocked off their second top five team in two days to move to 4-1 on the season. On Friday, Elmhurst defeated No. 4 Brebeuf 60-59. Hardy had 15 points in the Friday game.

Junior A.J. Ratliff contributed six points in a come-from-behind victory over Hamilton Southeastern (4-2)to keep North Central (4-0) unbeaten.

Richmond dropped to 1-5 on the seaosn with a 79-69 loss to Indianapolis Arlington. Sophomore Dominic James had 18 points in the loss.

Carmel (1-3) is also off to a slow start, dropping a Saturday game against unbeaten Cathedral 67-49. Junior Craig Swoope and sophomore Josh McRoberts had 16 and 10 respectively.

Robert Vaden led all scorers with 15 points as Pike moved to 3-0 with an 85-30 win over Broad Ripple. On Firday, Vaden has 12 points and six rebounds in an 82-49 win over Bloomington South.

Seymour evened the season at 3-3 with a 65-49 win over Whiteland. Junior Jon Pierce led all scorers with 19 points.