Red Scare can’t weather Category 5 storm in 76-69 loss in TBT Second Round
Red Scare huddles up late in Sunday’s 76-69 loss to Category 5 in the Second Round of The Basketball Tournament at the Covelli Center. Photo courtesy of Ben Solomon, TBT.
Peter Burtnett
Sports Editor
Red Scare couldn’t quite weather the Category 5 storm, falling to the University of Miami alumni 76-69 Sunday afternoon at the Covelli Center in the Second Round of The Basketball Tournament.
The game started out with a pair of quick threes from Category 5, but Red Scare quickly settled in, with Devin Oliver dropping 5 points to cut the deficit to 8-7 at the media timeout with 3:56 left in the first quarter.
Most of the first quarter remained a physical defensive battle, until Category 5 strung together several 3-pointers to push their lead to 21-10 and close the quarter on a 12-0 run. With 5 points each, Oliver and Darrell Davis Jr. were the only scorers for Red Scare.
Leading up to the media timeout with 3:08 left in the second quarter, the two teams continued to pour in threes, pushing their combined shooting to 12-22 from three. Davon Reed’s 16 points on 4-5 shooting from three helped push the Category 5 lead to 35-24 at the media timeout.
By halftime, the teams were 50 percent combined from three, and Category 5 held a 39-31 lead at the break. Davis (12 points) and Oliver (10 points) led the way for Red Scare, but the team had some work to do in the second half.
One key advantage for Category 5 at halftime was a 6-0 lead in points off turnovers, even though the two teams were level with 3 first-half turnovers. The alumni from the University of Miami also led in field goal percentage (48 to 36 percent) and 3-point percentage (58 to 43 percent).
To open the third quarter, the teams went back-and-forth for the first five baskets, and then Red Scare went on a 6-0 run, which was quickly answered by the same run from Category 5. With 3:07 left at the third quarter media timeout, Category 5 led 53-43.
The Hurricanes alumni began to stretch their lead, but a steal by Devon Scott led to a Davis 3-pointer to cut Red Scare’s deficit to 59-52 at the end of the third quarter.
Davis continued his tear with an and-1 layup and a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to just 62-60. Davis finished with 29 points on 9-13 shooting from the field, and Gruden said his play has been “amazing.”
“Every year we’ve done this, he’s proved he can play with anybody in the world,” Gruden said. “He’s matured so much from college, if you know him, he was just a big kid. But now, he’s a grown man, he can play with anybody he proved again today. He guards any player I put him on and he does a good job, and he can score. Can’t say enough about Darrell.”
But after Davis’ three, Category 5 went on a 6-0 run and called timeout under 4 minutes to initiate the Elam Ending. Red Scare needed to score 16 points before Category 5 scored 8.
“Yeah, it hurts,” head coach/GM Joey Gruden said. “We say in the huddle, we play until the Elam Ending. The Elam Ending is the end of the game essentially for us. We were trying to fight back hard and cut it close to make it a 2-point game for the Elam Ending, and they just hit a couple of big shots and it definitely hurt us and took the game from us.”
In the Elam Ending, Red Scare played well enough to stay on pace with Category 5, but didn’t have enough to overcome the 8-point deficit. A free throw from Category 5’s leading scorer Reed (21 points) was the final nail in the Red Scare’s 76-69 loss in the Second Round of The Basketball Tournament.
For Saturday’s win over BC Vahakni City and during Sunday’s loss, the Covelli Center was full of Dayton fans. Oliver said it was “amazing” to play in front of the UD faithful.
“I always say, no one travels like Dayton fans,” Oliver said. “Especially when it’s in Columbus, so a lot of credit goes out to them. It’s always good reliving, revisiting the memories and the intensity of the fans, so just sorry that we couldn’t get through for them.”
For Red Scare, most will move on towards their careers overseas, and the only player that currently plays in the United States, Jordan Sibert in the G-League, will compete in the 33-point contest Aug. 1 between the TBT semifinal games.
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