The Thursday night before the Fourth of July weekend, you are never sure what you are going to get at Summer League basketball, with players out of town to be with family or out celebrating the holiday in other ways. This Thursday was no different. The crowd was heavy at the Omaha Sports Academy even though the number of players were light.
Most teams on Thursday night only had five players on their team while others had to recruit players to make rare appearances in the league. While there were a few blowouts, there were some really competitive games as well. Here is what all went down on Thursday night.
Rooferees 97, UNO Alumni 96 — Sudden Death Triple OT
This game turned out to be the game of the night with both teams having a majority of their players. Like they have in the first two sessions, UNO Alumni took an early lead into the half up 45-38. However, the second half is where the Rooferees took over. The Rooferees were on their heels going toe to toe against the UNO Alumni. James Parrott was instrumental during this run going on his own run scoring 12 points in a row for the Rooferees. Austin Chatman then came up huge hitting a long 3-pointer with 9:20 left in the game to give them their first lead since the early stages of the game 69-67.
Both teams continued back and forth with the Rooferees keeping their slight lead and led 90-87 with 42 seconds remaining in the game. UNO Alumni battled back to hit a basket and then hit one of two free throws to tie it at 90 with 9 seconds to go. Justin Carter then dribbled down the court and took a contested three-pointer at the end of regulation to send the game into overtime.
During the overtime period, both teams hit three point baskets to start but then it came down to Carter getting the opportunity to take the lead. However, he missed two free throws with 1:09 left in OT. On the ensuing possession, UNO was fouled and hit one of two free throws. Chatman raced down the court and again made a long shot from behind the arc to take the lead back at 96-94, with 35 seconds left in overtime. UNO hit a shot again toward the end of overtime to force double overtime.
In the 1:00 double OT period, each team had opportunities to score but came up empty sending the game into sudden death triple overtime period. With both teams missing their initial shots, Creighton incoming freshman Martin Krampelj stole the ball and at the same time was fouled. Krampelj had the opportunity in regulation to extend their lead late in the game, but missed on a one-and-one opportunity. He struggled with free throw shooting down the stretch. Krampelj gained redemption by sinking the first free throw in the sudden death OT period and pulled out the game for the Rooferees, 97-96.
APEX Foster Care 100, Judd Knispel Agency 90
Apex Foster Care (Peru State) was involved in two exciting games on the night. (We’ll get to that later). In their first game they took on a very thin Judd Knisepel Agency that was made up of Nick Bahe, Matt Dorwart, Marcus Foster, Trey Moore (NPCC), and Kevin Jewell, who is one of the team managers for the Bluejays. With no subs available for the Knispel Agency, it was up to those five to take on a deeper Apex Foster Care team.
They did go into the half with a 54-47 lead, but Apex bounced back to hit shots down the stretch and wore out Bahe and the rest of the current and former Bluejays 100-90.
APEX Foster care 84, EQ School of Hair 82
With a last minute change to the schedule, Capehart Sales (Midland University) was unable to participate in Summer League games on Thursday night. So APEX played a second game to replace Capehart and teak on Mo Watson and the EQ School of Hair team.
This game was a barn burner with the teams tied at 45 going into halftime. Both teams battled in the second half answering each other with basket after basket. With 2:20 to go, Watson would take the final shots of the game for EQ School of Hair. He scored on a breakaway layup to get within 79-78 with 2:20 to go. After a basket by APEX, Watson again got into the scoring column to cut the lead to 81-80 on free throws with 56 seconds remaining. EQ held APEX to a missed shot and on the ensuing possession, Watson drove the lane and scored on a layup to put EQ up 82-81 with 30 seconds remaining.
APEX had more in the tank. They scored on a contested three pointer to go up 84-82 with only a few seconds remaining. Watson again drove to the basket and put up a challenged layup that just missed as the buzzer sounded. APEX walked away winners, went 2-0 on the night and now sit as the leaders in summer league with a 4-0 record.
Bank of Nebraska 80, Crusaders 77
Bank of Nebraska was completely shorthanded on the night with only Klaye Rowe and Derek Paben of the current roster available to play. The Crusaders took advantage of BofN’s situation and went into halftime with a 41-38 lead after being down for most of the first half. However, Bank of Nebraska was able to bounce back in the second half with their recruited players to get a 71-65 lead with three minutes to go and hung on for an 80-77 win and stay undefeated at 3-0. The Crusaders fall to 0-3 with another close loss.
Tostensen 99, ABIDE Network 78
Former Husker Ryan Anderson went off again for Tostensen and led all scorers in the early game of the evening. This game was almost out of reach by halftime with a 53-37 lead. The lead then ballooned to 77-51 with 12:20 left in the game before the 99-78 final score. Tostensen goes to 2-1 while ABIDE falls to 0-3.
BD 76, Narmi Group @ Baird 67
BD continues to roll by jumping out to a 46-29 halftime lead and a 55-38 lead with 13 minutes to go, before leaving with the 76-67 victory. The newest Bluejay, Malik Albert, was expected to play, but twisted his ankle the day before which kept him out of summer league. However, former Bluejay Devin Brooks was back in town, and helped get Narmi back into the game towards the end. BD goes to 3-0 while Narmi Group @ Baird is 0-3.
Winning Mentality 72, Paragas Law 69
Boxing champ Terrence “Bud” Crawford joined Paragas Law on Thursday night and gave them a boost of energy. At the same time Ronnie Harrell looked more and more comfortable out on the court as Paragas went into halftime with a 41-38 lead. They were up 69-68 with two minutes to go as the teams battled back and forth. However, Winning Mentality got their winning attitude going and scored the final four points to get the victory. Harrell put up a potential tying shot from just inside half-court as time expired, but the ball hit one of the fixtures in the ceiling and the game was over. Paragas falls to 1-2, while Winning Mentality is at 2-1 for the summer.
Andy’s Lawncare 77, Shanks Law Firm 71
Devin Brooks joined Andy’s limited roster on Thursday night. He had his ups and downs, but the core of Scot Abels, Jason Isaacson, and Matt Wallace kept things under control and got the 77-71 victory. Shanks rebounded nicely after last week’s blowout and gave Andy’s all they could handle. Andy’s goes to 3-0, while Shanks falls to 0-3.
NE HS Hoops 91, OFWF 65
Most of the OFWF team was there on Thursday, but they seemed to be almost no match to the NE HS Hoops team. The game was close with NE HS Hoops getting a 39-31 lead at halftime. However, after the half, OFWF had a lot of problems scoring and the lead for NE HS Hoops balooned to 71-48 with 8 minutes to go in the game. It was all fun and games for them the rest of the way and they cruised into 3-0 territory. OFWF fell to 0-3.
Summer League Hoops returns to the Omaha Sports Academy on Monday, July 6th with games starting at 6:45 p.m.