It was a wild and crazy night a the Omaha Sports Academy on Thursday. At the end of the night 16 of the 20 teams are done playing for the summer. The semifinals are set for Monday at 7:00 p.m. with UNO Alumni taking on Bank of Nebraska in one game and Andy’s Lawncare will take on the Judd Knispel Agency in the other game with the winners meeting in the finals scheduled for 8:00 p.m. Here are the recaps to catch up on what happened Thursday night.
Quarterfinals
UNO Alumni 74, Apex Foster Care 72
After upsetting Zurlo’s in the previous round, it looked like UNO Alumni were running out of gas playing their third game of the evening. Apex was up 33-29 at the half, but it was a battle to the end. UNO Alumni tied it at 63 with 2:50 to go and things went back and forth the rest of the game. UNO Alumni was up 72-69 with 36 seconds left before Apex’s Calvin Thomas hit a three pointer to tie the game at 72 with 13 seconds left. After a timeout by UNO Alumni they were able to get the ball in-bounds from the sideline with a lob over the defender’s head to the basket where it was caught and put in to put UNO up 2 with 5 seconds left. UNO Alumni still had a foul to give and fouled right away with two seconds remaining. A desperation shot from half court fell short and UNO Alumni advanced to the semifinals after playing three games.
Bank of Nebraska 84, Cape Truck Acc. 72
In a rematch of last summer’s final, this game was close throughout. Bank of Nebraska took a 47-41 lead at the half. However Cape Truck (Midland University) battled back early in the second half and took their first lead of the game at 59-58 with 12:30 left in the game. They were up 65-60 before Bank of Nebraska battled back behind Justin Carter and James Parrott hitting back to back three’s to take a 66-65 lead with 5:30 to go. Bank of Nebraska then distributed the ball throughout the team for the remainder of the game and advanced to the semifinals
Judd Knispel Agency 95, Mustangs 73
The Mustangs were playing again after a physically draining win against BD earlier in the night and could not cut the momentum the Judd Knispel Agency had after winning a one-point game against the Bruins in the game played just before this one. Judd Knispel jumped out to an early lead and went into the half up 51-37. Hiding in the shadows this summer has been Creighton’s Austin Chatman. Chatman has been solid all summer and has been quietly doing what he has always done–helped teams win games. He did in this one distributing the ball with Nick Bahe, Ali Farohkmanesh and Jahenns Manigat hitting several three-pointers with Matt Dorwart and Benedictine’s Cristian Hatterle taking care of things in the paint. Chatman had 13 points and 14 assists, while Manigat had 15 points, 10 rebounds and 4 assists in leading the only current Creighton players left in the tournament to the semifinals.
Andy’s Lawncare 109, Paragas Law Firm 79
Andy’s continued their dominance of the league this summer getting out to a big lead early and then just putting Paragas away easily in the second half. Paragas has been known this summer for having a lot of unique players on their team. For the past few games, Josh Jones came out of retirement to play some hoops. On Thursday night it was Omaha’s Boxing Champion Terence “Bud” Crawford who tied up the laces to play for Paragas. He played tough and did his best for a team that was missing several players off of the original roster. For Andy’s it was John Turek who rebounded after a tough first game to lead a balanced attack by Andy’s to pull away. He was hitting three-pointer after three-pointer in the first half and then went to work down low to show his diversity. It was he and Andre Smith who were the inside-outside threats throughout that could not be stopped.
Top Seed Round
UNO Alumni 88, Zurlo’s 74
This was the first big upset of the night. Zurlo’s came out on fire early with Mo Watson, CJ Carter and others really hot from behind the arc. But then after cooling, UNO Alumni took advantage to build a 7 point lead which they ended up holding throughout the rest of the game.
Bank of Nebraska 87, Winning Mentality, 74
Bank of Nebraska jumped out to an early lead in this one and went into halftime with a 44-37 lead. Winning Mentality made a lot of noise in the second half and made it close the rest of the way, but Justin Carter and crew were too much and pulled out the victory.
Mustangs 78, BD 75
The Mustangs decided to foul Jelani Johnson up three in the final seconds. Johnson missed the front end of a one-and-one and the rebound grabbed by BD giving them an opportunity to send the game in overtime and the shot bounced off the front of the rim and the Mustangs escaped to advance.
Andy’s Lawncare 99, Big O Boys 69
Andy’s almost did a repeat performance from Monday night against the Big O Boys. Andy’s should have been at a bit of a disadvantage since the Big O Boys didn’t have to play a game before since they advanced with a forfeit against the Narmi Group. However, Andy’s didn’t let that happen. They jumped out to a 24-11 lead early in the first half and just dominated inside and out like they did Monday in the 50 point win over the Big O Boys.
Round of 16
Apex Foster Care 61, EQ School of Hair Design 60 OT
This one had all sorts of drama. The game went into overtime and Apex Foster Care was up four before Leon Gilmore banked a three-pointer to cut the lead to one. After Apex (Peru State) turned the ball over, KC Rodenburg hit a three-pointer in the corner to give EQ a 60-58 lead. Apex came right down the court and hit a deep three-pointer with 8 seconds left. EQ tried a final shot, but it bounced around the rim about 5 times as time expired.
Cape Truck Acc. 62, John Higgins Weatherguard 60
This game was tight throughout with a spirited crowd on hand. With the game tied at 60 with 12 seconds left, Cape Truck (Midland University) took timeout and ran a play that took them right to the basket with an apparent layup but the ball bounced around of the rim and it was tipped around two more times before a final tip put the ball through the basket at the buzzer, creating a heartbreaking loss for Devin Brooks and the John Higgins Weatherguard team.
Judd Knispel Agency 68, Bruins 67
This one was back and forth throughout with the Bruins taking a 42-40 halftime lead. Judd Knispel Agency took the lead on a Nick Bahe three-pointer and both teams failed to score in the final minutes and Judd escaped for victory.
Paragas Law Firm 86, Lopers 76
Paragas Law was without Will Artino or Ricky Kreklow once again, but jumped out to a 42-33 halftime lead and had enough in the tank to get to the next round.
Play-in Round
UNO Alumni 88, Northeast 80
The UNO Alumni played their best game of the summer and looked like they were ready for a three-game night. They got out to a quick lead and had a 48-41 lead at the half and Northeast could not cut that gap to finish their summer on a 5-game skid.
Winning Mentality 82, ABIDE 75
This game went back and forth with ABIDE taking a five point lead into halftime, but Winning Mentality battled back early in the second half and held off a late run to advance.
BD 73, Shanks Law FIrm 67
The game was tied at 32 at halftime and BD got a 4-point lead after a Donald Jones basket with the foul with 4:02 remaining, and it was the clutch free throw shooting by Jelani Johnson to help BD keep the lead and advance.
Big O Boys vs. Narmi Group @ Baird
The Big O Boys advanced in this one by forfeit after only Ronnie Harrell, Avery Dingman and one other person from the Narmi Group were the only players available for that team.
