McNeal Selected for Shooting Stars Competition

MCALLEN, TEXAS – The defending NBA DevelopmentLeague champion Rio Grande Valley Vipers announced Tuesday that guard Jerel McNeal (6-3, 200, Marquette) is apart of the NBA D-League Haier Shooting Stars Competition during NBADevelopment League Dream Factory Friday Night presented by Haier on February 18at 10:00 p.m. at Center Court at NBA All-Star Jam Session presented by adidasat the Los Angeles Convention Center.

This is the second year in a row a Viper hastaken part in the competition, following in the footsteps of the reigning NBADevelopment League Most Valuable Player, MikeHarris (6-6, 235, Rice).

NBA D-League Haier Shooting Stars makes itssecond appearance at NBA D-League Dream Factory Friday night presented byHaier, and features 12 NBA D-League stars competing in four teams of three in atwo-round timed shooting event. The Haier Shooting Stars contest features sixnumbered shooting locations of increasing difficulty, with each team attemptingto make all shots in numeric order in the fastest time. Each team will select aspecific player rotation to follow throughout the competition. Each shot mustbe made before the next player begins shooting in succession. Teams have up totwo minutes to complete the entire shooting course and the team that completesall six shots in the least amount of time is declared the winner. In the caseof a tie, a shoot-off will be used to determine the winner.

McNeal is averaging 18.6 points (fifth in theleague), 4.0 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 1.2 steals in 33 games and starts. He isshooting 45.1% from the field, 34.6% from behind the arc and 82.4% from thefoul line. He had the fifth-highest individual points output of the season with40 against the Reno Bighorns on December 11, 2010.