The Basketball Tournament 2021 Results: AfterShocks' Win Headlines Friday's Scores

The eighth edition of The Basketball Tournament began Friday with a quartet of exciting and close games. 

Teams were brought into the tournament through an open application process.

Those teams have different themes and groupings: For example, many squads heavily consist of alums from a specific school, like Team Arkansas (the University of Arkansas Razorbacks).

It’s a 64-team, single-elimination competition, and the teams are split into four regions and seeded No. 1 through No. 16. The winner takes home $1 million

Games are split into nine-minute quarters, but there is a twist.

This tournament incorporates the Elam ending, which involves teams shooting for a target score rather than getting as many points as possible before the clock runs out.

That target score is the winning team’s point total after the first under-four timeout of the fourth quarter plus eight points.

For example, Purple & Black led 52-48 at the under-four timeout over the Omaha Blue Crew, meaning that the winning team would get 60 or more points before its opponent. That ended up being Omaha Blue Crew in a 60-59 thriller.

Regionals are being held in Peoria, Illinois; Columbus, Ohio; Charleston, West Virginia; and Wichita, Kansas. The quarterfinals, semifinals and championship will go down in Dayton, Ohio.

Here’s a look at how the first games went down.

All stats via the official TBT website.

     

No. 6 Team Arkansas 74, No. 11 Fort Worth Funk 70

Jaylen Barford’s 23-point, 12-rebound outing propelled Team Arkansas (a group of Arkansas basketball alumni) to a 74-70 win over Fort Worth Funk (TCU hoops alums) to kick off Friday’s action.

Barford hit the game’s biggest shot after he nailed an off-balance three-pointer with the shot clock winding down to give Team Arkansas a 63-58 lead:

The action got a little heated down the stretch:

But CJ Jones sent Arkansas home happy with the game-ending corner three-pointer to hit the 74-point Elam score:

     

Team Arkansas has Team Challenge ALS on deck next.

     

No. 3 Team Challenge ALS 67, No. 14 We Are D3 60

Marvelle Harris scored 22 points and Deshawn Stevens added a 12-point, 10-rebound, four-steal outing to lead Team Challenge ALS (team goal: raise awareness and funds for people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) over We Are D3 (ex-Division III players) 67-60.

This was a sluggish offensive game for both teams, with Team Challenge ALS notably shooting 3-of-23 from behind the three-point line.

But Team Challenge ALS did enough down the stretch to slowly pull away from the Division III challengers, who cut their deficit to 52-51 early in the fourth quarter. Stevens’ putback dunk gave Team Challenge ALS the win:

Team Arkansas and Team Challenge ALS will face off in the second round.

    

No. 10 Omaha Blue Crew 60, No. 7 Purple & Black 59

Deverell Biggs’ three-pointer gave Omaha Blue Crew (ex-Creighton players) a 60-59 win over Purple & Black (Kansas State alums).

Three Omaha Blue Crew players scored in double digits led by Biggs’ 14. Thomas Gipson III’s 19 points for Purple & Black led all scorers.

Gipson’s layup gave his team a 54-49 lead that put the ex-KSU players six points away from the target score. Undeterred, the Omaha Blue Crew kept fighting and tied the game at 57 off a Nick McGlynn dunk. Gipson later responded with a slam of his own before Biggs called game.

The No. 2 AfterShocks are up next for the ex-Bluejays.

      

No. 2 AfterShocks 60, No. 15 Ex-Pats 53

Rashard Kelly’s 16-point, 13-rebound night and Conner Frankamp’s 15 points (four three-pointers) allowed the AfterShocks (ex-Wichita State alumni) to hold off a valiant effort from the ex-Pats (former Patriot League players).

Prentiss Nixon’s 21 points kept the ex-Pats hanging around. The challengers trailed 52-51 in the fourth quarter after a pair of Kyle Leufroy free throws, but Zach Brown hit a huge three-pointer after an offensive rebound and kickout to put his squad up 55-51. 

Frankamp then hit a three-pointer for a 58-51 edge, and Kelly answered an ex-Pats bucket with the game-winner.

The Wichita State-based team has the Omaha Blue Crew up next.