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The Basketball Tournament: Day 3 Liveblog

07/19/2015, 12:15pm EDT
By Jeff Griffith and Varun Kumar

Jeff Griffith (@Jeff_Griffith21) &
Varun Kumar (@vrkumar8)
--

The Basketball Tournament, the 97-team tournament with a $1 million prize awaiting the winning team, enters its last day of action with eight teams left in the Northeast Regional.

On the last day of regional play, the Northeast regional’s last eight teams from a field of twenty-four played for four available spots in Chicago's Super 17, from which four teams will head to New York City to play for the million-dollar prize.

Here's a live blog of the final day of action at Philadelphia University:

~~~


12:10 PM: In one of the most highly-anticipated games of day three, Philly's own Liberty Ballers faced off with DMV's Finest from the DC Metro area. Liberty Ballers led 55-45 at the half behind eight points from Villanova alum Reggie Redding, while Georgetown's Austin Freeman led all scorers with fifteen at the break. Since the break, Liberty Ballers, have held DMV's Finest at arm's length, leading 74-64 with 5:19 to play.

~~~

12:45 PM: After controlling the second half in its entirety, Liberty Ballers pulled away from DMV's Finest in front of a crowd of hometown supporters by a score of 85-73 to advance to the Super 17 in Chicago. Several of Liberty Ballers' players played at Villanova, so they know what it takes to do well in a tournament like this.

"We've got to take it one game at a time," said Reggie Redding. "We're playing great teams, playing experienced players. We're good a team, but we've got to take it one game at a time. Only four games until that million, but we've got to play good teams to get there."

Redding, who dropped seventeen points for Liberty Ballers, played his college ball right in this neck of the woods for Villanova. His fellow 'Nova alum, Antonio Pena, added nine points and seven rebounds. 

DMV'S Finest was unable to recapture their performance on the same stage a year ago, where they made it all the way to the final eight before being eliminated. Georgetown alum Austin Freeman led the DC Metro team with twenty-two points. 

~~~

1:40 PM: Free Bands leads Team City of Gods 55-49 at halftime with ex-New Mexico State wing Jahmar Young leading the way with 17 points, including hitting 4 of 5 from long distance. Team City of Gods actually took a 12 point lead at about the halfway mark of the first half, but Free Bands used an 8-0 run to get back into the game.

~~~

2:30 PM: Team City of Gods will be playing in Chicago next weekend, advancing with a 96-84 win in the second game of the day. The DC-based team beat the Baltimore-heavy Free Bands, despite trailing by 4 points midway through the second half. They used a 15-0 run, on the back of former Texas Southern guard Omar Strong (19 points), to take an 11 point lead. Northern Illinois great Xavier Silas also chipped in with 18 points. 

The close proximity between the two cities was obviously not lost on the players from either side, as both sides were very familiar with each other. For Strong, who actually hails from Baltimore, the win was especially sweet.

"I knew all of those guys [on Free Bands]," he said with a huge smile. "I grew up with them even though they are a little older than me. It was one of things I had to get. We had to get this win for bragging rights."

A Free Bands team with only six active players got strong contributions from Jahmar Young (24 points) and former Morgan State wing Reggie Holmes (23 points). Ex-Virginia Tech big man Jeff Allen cleaned up the boards with 15 rebounds.

~~~

3:25 PM: Despite being seeded fifteenth and going up against second-seeded Big Apple Basketball, Sideline Cancer came out firing, opening up an 18-3 lead in the first five minutes. Since then, things have cooled off a little, but Sideline Cancer still enters the have with a comfortable 44-28 lead behind Jarryd Cole's ten points. The Big Apple squad--who advanced to today on a last-second Michael Glover put-back against Basketball City--was led by Glover, who dropped nine points. 

~~~

4:15 PM: Despite having spent the entire second half chipping away at what had been a 20-point lead, Big Apple Basketball didn't have enough in the tank to avoid the upset, and Sideline Cancer advanced to the Super 17 on the wings of a 70-67 victory.

Sideline Cancer's mission--supporting cancer awareness and research in the memory of former basketball junkie Gary Griffith--will survive another round on its way to a potential million dollars. Leading the way with sixteen points for Sideline Cancer was Jarryd Cole.

The second-seeded Big Apple Basketball ended their tournament run in disappointing fashion, especially having reached last year's final four. ​Derrick Caracter dropped seventeen in the losing effort.

~~~

5:15 PM: In the final game of the third round, 20th & Olney leads Boeheim's Army 45-40. The La Salle alums trailed most of the first half, but took the lead on a Tyrone Garland three from the left wing with three minutes to go. Garland has 18 points, including a red hot 4 of 6 from distance. Boeheim's Army has gotten strong contributions from its two forwards, Hakim "Skinny" Warrick and Demetris Nichols, who have a combined 26 points.

~~~

6:00 PM: After a back-and-forth second half, both Boeheim's Army and 20th & Olney are knotted at 85. Tyrone Garland went cold in the second half, only making one his three-point attempts.

~~~

6:15 PM: Eric Devendorf and Steven Smith both got ejected in overtime, and Boeheim's Army advanced to the Super 17 with an exhilarating 92-91 victory over 20th & Olney, the team of La Salle alumni. 

Although it was Olu Famutimi--who actually played is college ball at Arkansas--who made the game winning foul shots, Demetris Nichols led the way with twenty-eight points for the Syracuse alums.

Tyrone Garland, who scored eighteen in the first half, led 20th & Olney with twenty-one, and Steven Smith dropped nineteen before being sent off. 

 

Recruiting News:

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HS Coverage:

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Jeff Griffith (@Jeff_Griffith21) &
Varun Kumar (@vrkumar8) 
--

The Basketball Tournament, the 97-team tournament with a $1 million prize awaiting the winning team, enters its last day of action with eight teams left in the Northeast Regional.

On the final day of regional play, the Northeast regional’s last eight teams from a field of twenty-four played for four available spots in Chicago's Super 17, from which four teams will head to New York City to play for the million-dollar prize

Here's a live blog of the final day of action at Philadelphia University:

~~~

12:30 PM: In one of the most highly-anticipated games of day three, Philly's own Liberty Ballers faced off with DMV's Finest from the DC Metro area. Liberty Ballers led 55-45 at the half behind eight points from Villanova alum Reggie Redding, while Georgetown's Austin Freeman led all scorers with fifteen at the break. Since the break, Liberty Ballers, have held DMV's Finest at arm's length, leading 74-64 with 5:19 to play. 

 

Recruiting News:

View All |

HS Coverage:

View All |

Jeff Griffith (@Jeff_Griffith21) &
Varun Kumar (@vrkumar8) 
--

The Basketball Tournament, the 97-team tournament with a $1 million prize awaiting the winning team, enters its last day of action with eight teams left in the Northeast Regional.

As the games in Philadelphia wrapped up on Sunday, the region's final eight teams battled for four available spots in Chicago's Super 17, from which the last four teams remaining will be headed to New York City to play for the million-dollar prize.

Here's a liveblog of the last day of action at Philadelphia University:

~~

12:00 PM: In Sunday's opening game, the fifth-seeded DMV's finest took on fourth-seeded Liberty Ballers in a highly anticipated matchup of talented teams. Philly's own Liberty Ballers, comprised of alumni from schools like Villanova and Siena, led DMV's Finest--from the DC Metro Area--55-45 at the break, behind seven points and four rebounds by Ryan Rossiter. Villanova alum Reggie Redding also dropped eight for Liberty Ballers, while Austin Freeman, an alumnus of Georgetown, led the way with fifteen for DMV's Finest, who now trail 62-53 with twelve minutes to play.

Recruiting News:

View All |

HS Coverage:

View All |

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