The IHSA Board of Directors voted unanimously Monday evening that Mooseheart’s three South Sudanese boys basketball, players will remain eligible, but the program has been placed on probation, pending “review and refinement” of its admissions process and other mandatory training.

In its official statement after the decision, which was issued after a lengthy afternoon hearing at IHSA headquarters in Bloomington, the IHSA asserted that an investigation by associate executive director Kurt Gibson was “complete and appropriate,” but that the South Sudanese transfers had been “taken advantage of by [African-Hoop Opportunities Providing an Education] and people related to that organization.”

Mooseheart had initially been told that juniors Akim Nyang, Makur Puou and Mangisto Deng fulfilled their IHSA transfer requirements by sitting out last season after being referred to the school by A-HOPE. The game-changing trio – Nyang stands 7-foot-1, Puou is 6-10 and Deng is 6-7 – played in the Red Ramblers’ first four games this season before trouble hit.