Friday Summary
#6 Team Arkansas (Arkansas) def. #11 Fort Worth Funk (TCU), 74-70
Jaylen Barford’s 23 points and 12 rebounds helped Team Arkansas fend off the Fort Worth Funk in a game that neither side led by more than eight points. Hunter Mickelson’s free throw snapped a 70-all tie, and C.J. Jones sank a corner three for the Razorback alumni to trigger the first Elam Ending of 2021. J.D. Miller paced the former Frogs with 20 points.
#10 Omaha Blue Crew (Creighton) def. #7 Purple & Black (K-State), 60-59
Deverell Biggs’ Elam Ending wasn’t the prettiest but will go down as one of the more-memorable in TBT history. The 6-foot-3 guard banked in a guarded, fall-away three ahead of the shot clock buzzer to send Omaha into the second round. Biggs finished with a team-high 14 points and Jahenns Manigat supplied 11 points and five steals to lead the Creighton alumni, who won despite shooting just 13 percent (4-of-30) from deep. Thomas Gipson tallied a game-high 19 in a losing effort for Purple & Black, which squandered a nine-point lead.
#3 Team Challenge ALS vs. #14 We Are D3 (NCAA Division III), 67-60
Athleticism ultimately won out for Team Challenge ALS in a 67-60 win over We Are D3. Marvelle Harris stacked up 21 points and seven rebounds to lead the way, and Deshawn Stephens finished with a double-double (12 points and 10 boards). Challenge outscored We Are D3 48-14 in the paint and outrebounded them 52-30 but still got all it wanted from a squad of former NCAA Division III standouts. Eric Demers scored a game-high 25 on 7-of-12 three-point shooting. D3 led 41-40 at the 4:19-mark of the third period after Demers drilled his fifth triple of the night, but Harris spurred a 6-0 run with back-to-back buckets and Challenge never trailed again. D3 trimmed an 11-point deficit to five during the Elam Ending, however DeShawn Stephens’ tip-in sealed the victory for the No. 3 seed, which improved to 11-4 all-time in TBT play and will face No. 6 seed Team Arkansas in Sunday’s second round (1 p.m. CT, ESPN3).
#2 AfterShocks (Wichita St.) def. #15 Ex-Pats (Patriot League), 60-53
Rashard Kelly recorded a double-double and Conner Frankamp heated up in the second half to lead the AfterShocks past the Ex-Pats, 60-53, in front of a raucous home crowd at Charles Koch Arena. Kelly made 7-of-11 shots and pulled down a game-high 13 rebounds for the Shocker alumni, who made just 2-of-20 threes in a 19-point first half. The AfterShocks hit 8-of-17 second-half treys to move in front, led by Frankamp, who made all four three-point tries and scored 14 of his 15 points after halftime. Prentiss Nixon’s game-high 21 points led the way in the losing effort for the Ex-Pats, a team of former Patriot League stars making its TBT debut.
