#1 Eberlein Drive vs #9 Stillwater Stars
It looked like an easy summer Sunday Drive for Eberlein in round 2 vs the Stars. Stillwater looked more like Standing Stillwater Stars as the Drive blew past them on the court. Where was the Stars defense? They got ran over and fell behind by 30 early and the rest of the half. The Drive even shot 80% from the Free throw errr Field! 80% percent shooting from the field in the first half!! That’s insane. They were hotter than the summer heat.
Oh I get it. Maybe Stillwater was just going to wait for the ELAM again before they started playing. Ahh trying to match their amazing come from behind win in round 1. But no, it seemed like my wanna be pro gamer nephew was playing against grandpa on Xbox. A notable player for Stillwater was Michael Qualls with 20 points. The Drive could do no wrong as it looked like 3 point shooting practice all day hitting at an amazing 69 percent clip from three making 18 for 26 for the game. And they were unselfish dishing 34 total assists. 56 points in the paint. Eberlein should be called Eberlein Dunk City. Queen was King to close out a 52 point win.
#3 Team Challenge ALS vs #6 Team Arkansas
The whole game was a back and forth battle between 2 veteran teams. However, ALS transition defense was non existent in the first half. But they had excellent half court D throughout the game. Arkansas’ dynamic duo of Hannahs and Bareford helped Arkansas go into intermission with a 1 point lead as Justin Dentmon for ALS was held scoreless.
In the 2nd half Harris flipped the ON switch and had another outstanding game. Dentmon finally got on the board as at the end of the 3rd to finish with 10 points. Josh Hagans was stepping up for Arkansas but Hannahs seemed to have disappeared in the 2nd half despite finishing with a tough earned 22 points. ALS went on a 16 to 3 run to close out the game.
#2 Wichita Aftershocks vs #10 Blue Crew
Another hard fought game. Blue Crew’s excellent defense in game one continued in their tough matchup with ALS. One thing that you see here that you normally don’t see in TBT is solid play from the Bigs. TBT tends to be a fast paced up and down guard oriented tournament as it’s rare to see battles in the paint from the Post players. But I was impressed to see excellent play from both Nick McGlynn from Blue Crew and Damonte Dodd for ALS. McGlynn put on his hard hat as he had a workman type performance. Dodd is a legit center who protected the paint all night blocking and altering shots.
There was a lot of impressive play in this game. Especially from Blue Crew’s Admon Gilder with a game leading 27 points. But once again it’s no Shock that Frankamp would have an outstanding performance doing what he does. Hitting 3’s and making plays and making ELAM winning shots. Wichita just seemed to have better overall team play. But the After Shock is still waiting for David Dileo to find his stroke as he only scored 2 points. He is due for a breakout shooting performance.
#5 Florida TNT vs #4 LA Cheaters
If you were looking for another Exciting Blockbuster game to watch in Wichita you were not disappointed with this matchup. Here we had a High Octane game from start to finish. TNT and Cheaters were running up and down the court trading dunks and 3s. Chris Warren for Florida could not miss. Not to mention big man Keith Clanton was keeping the Cheaters honest with his big play in the paint along with Marc-Eddy Norelia
Casper Ware for LA finally broke out with a solid performance to help the Cheaters stay close. Terrence Jones for the Cheaters showed why he is one of the best versatile players in TBT with an MVP like performance. Unfortunately LA came up short as TNT was just more explosive overall. Kenny Boynton who hit big 3 after 3 in the entire game nailed the ELAM ending with of course a 3.
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Best game of the day?
Wichita vs Blue Crew. The crowd just makes games exciting no matter what.
Biggest surprise of the day?
I Thought after an outstanding come back win, Stillwater would have put up more of a fight. But they literally got run over by the Drive.
Moment worth remembering?
Wichita literally stealing a win.
What player earned his trip the the E&J Brandy lounge?
Even though they lost I’m giving this to Gilder of Blue Crew.
One big thing looking ahead?
Eberlein vs TNT. Lets Go!!!
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Allan Cunanan is the GM of West Coast Ronin, a veteran team in The Basketball Tournament. While we look forward to the Ronin playing in TBT 2022, we at thematchupzone.com are pleased to have him on board for TBT 2021 as a guest analyst.