The Metro Summer League Basketball tournament started Thursday night at the Omaha Sports academy. One of the larger crowds of the summer season converged, including Panon, Danny and myself to see some current Creighton players amongst others for possibly the last time until November when the college basketball season starts again.
The top three seeds–McGinn Law, Barley’s and Bellevue University advanced to the semifinals while ABIDE Ministries, who entered the tournament 1-4 and the #12 seed in the 14 team field battled their way into the semifinals. You can see an updated bracket for the matchups for next week. Here is a recap of the evening’s action.
Quarterfinal Rounds
#1 McGinn Law 77, #9 UNO Alumni 75
McGinn Law, who has been masquerading as Regent Financial all season battled a UNO Alumni team down to the wire. The game went back and forth and was tied at 72 with under two minutes to go. Former Nebraskan Ryan Anderson took over the game from that point scoring the last five points with a layup and a three point play on back to back possessions.
The UNO Alumni cut it to two on a three pointer by Grant Neiland. On a missed free throw by Tyler Albers with 6 seconds left, UNO Alumni had an opportunity to tie or win the game on a final possession but a tap away from behind by Anderson caused a scramble for the ball and no one could get a shot off before time expired.
#2 Barley’s 68, #7 EQ School of Hair 59
EQ School of Hair that included Kaleb Korver and Wayne Runnels had an early lead over Barley’s in the first half, but a 16 point turn around gave Bruce Chubick, Charles Richardson and the rest of Barley’s about a 5-7 point cushion throughout the rest of the game and they were able to hold on to advance.
#3 Bellevue University 69, #6 Narmi Group 67
Kenny Lawson, Jahenns Manigat, Doug McDermott and the rest of the Narmi Group played catchup throughout most of the game. At one point in the first half they were down 30-10 but rallied back to cut the lead to eight by halftime. In the second half, the teams went back and forth with the lead staying at that eight point margin.
However, the Narmi group fouled Bellevue down the stretch and missed free throws allowed Manigat, McDermott and Lawson to score on consecutive possessions cutting the lead to two with about 7 seconds to go. Bellevue hit one of two free throws and they chose to foul the Narmi Group before they could setup to hit a game tying three pointer. Sek Henry hit the first free throw and tried to miss the second one and could not get the rebound and the #3 seeded Bellevue escaped with victory.
#12 ABIDE Ministries 110, #4 Icehouse 78
This was the surprise of the evening. Nick Bahe, Darryl Ashford and the whole ABIDE Ministries team hit shot after shot in the second half taking an eight point halftime lead into an almost 30 point victory. The game was called with a little over a minute to go as Icehouse was just worn out from their previous game against Heartland Properties. The #12 seeded ABIDE Ministries garnered two wins and advanced tot he semifinals against McGinn Law. ABIDE Ministries is the only team left with Creighton players still playing.
Opening Round
#4 Icehouse 78, #13 Heartland Properties 77
Hearland Properties was up most of the game including a 14 point lead in the final few minutes, but Jason Dourisseau lead the comeback. Several missed free throws down the stretch doomed Ethan Wragge and Josh Jones Heartland Properties team and finished the summer season 1-5.
#3 Bellevue University 68, #14 Go Gettaz 64
The Go Gettaz team finished the summer league season without a win and Bellevue advanced to the quarterfinals.
#7 EQ School of Hair 101, #10 State Farm 90
EQ School of Hair was able to outrun Antoine Young’s State Farm team with the 11 point victory. In a game that went scoreless the first minute, both teams picked up the slack scoring wise. State Farm held on to a 9-point halftime lead behind some nice 3-point shooting. A Wayne Runnel’s technical foul in the first half for EQ. EQ turned up the defense in the second half though. State Farm had barely enough players to even play the game and could not come back from being down early.
#6 Narmi Group 110, #11 Shanks Law 98
There was no defense in this one as each team was able to score at will. Will Artino and Kody Ingle were not playing in this one which kept this re-match from living up to its billing. Jahenns Manigat continues to gives fans something to watch. He threw alley-oops to Kenny Lawson, hit a few three pointers, and slashed in the lane to find open teammates.
#12 ABIDE Ministries 83, #5 UNO 69
ABIDE Ministries scores the first upset of the night as they knocked off UNO. With Nick Bahe running the show and the size of John Turek and Andy King, they were able to pull away from UNO.
#9 UNO Alumni 62, #8 Bellevue Alumni 60
As expected this rematch was a battle like the first meeting during the summer league pool play. A low scoring contest, the game came down to a pair of Michael Jenkins free throws with less than 10 seconds remaining in the game. A halfcourt shot by Bellevue hit off the back of the rim that would have given them the win.
—Panon also contributed to this recap
