Carmen's Crew handles Men of Mackey to advance
COLUMBUS – It started off looking like a Big Ten football game, full of physicality and points proving to be difficult to come by, but by the time the second half rolled around scoring picked up and Carmen's Crew finally found its outside shot and was able to pull away late from the Men of Mackey, 80-69 to advance to the third round of The Basketball Tournament (TBT).
Jeff Gibbs led the way for Carmen's Crew in the first half, but the second half was all about William Buford and his 19 points on the day with Jon Diebler heating up late from distance, chipping in 9 of his own when things were looking a little unsure.
Kelsey Barlow would lead the Men of Mackey with 18 points, Robbie Hummel would chip in 17 and Isaac Haas had 14.
"I thought we played great, missed a lot of shots that we normally make but that is the life of the tournament," Carmen's Crew head coach Jared Sullinger said after the game.
Evan Ravenel came up large for Carmen's Crew in the first quarter when he would snap a four-plus minute scoreless streak for the No. 1 seed and tie things back up at nine-all. He would then convert on the next offensive possession to regain the lead and then make a big defensive play on the other end of the floor. Ravenel would lead all Carmen's Crew scorers after the first quarter.
Carmen's Crew would eventually open up a seven-point lead in the second quarter and appear to have things finally working, even with limited scoring on an all too familiar looking isolation drive by Aaron Craft to the rim, 19-12. But inconsistent scoring would plague Carmen's Crew once again, this time going on another three-minute-plus drought, finally snapped by a William Buford three-pointer, the first of the day for Carmen's Crew. That would turn a one-point lead into a four-point lead and stem the comeback by Men of Mackey, 22-18.
That would spur Carmen's Crew on to going 4-of-4 down the stretch including a three-pointer by Jeff Gibbs at the buzzer to take a 29-21 halftime lead.
Even with Men of Mackey's size advantage one of the most telling stats of the first half is that Carmen's Crew held a 20-6 edge in the paint through the first half.
The third quarter would see Carmen's Crew open up multiple double-digit leads in the quarter only for Men of Mackey to come roaring back and get the lead down to five or six points before the Ohio State alumni team would build the lead back up. Diebler would hit a pair of late threes to blow the lead up to 15 points at the end of the quarter, putting some distance between the two teams.
Carmen's Crew would keep the lead in the teens for the remainder of the fourth quarter and Julian Mavunga would end it from the free throw line as the Elam Ending was set to 80 points after Carmen's Crew took a timeout up 72-59 to set the final target score.
Carmen's Crew will play again on Tuesday at 9pm against the winner of (4) Team Hines vs. (5) The Money Team. That game will be televised nationally on ESPN. The winner of that game will advance to championship week in Dayton (Ohio).