Former All-Big East guard Marcus Foster capped off a memorable return to Omaha by drawing a foul and rattling home a free throw to give the Omaha Blue Crew team made of local stars and former Creighton players a 74-70 win over Team Overtime, and their two projected top five NBA Draft picks Ausar and Amen Thompson, in the first round of the The Basketball Tournament at D.J. Sokol Arena. In 24 minutes off the bench, Foster scored 10 points, dished out four assists, grabbed three rebounds, and only turned the ball over one time despite 6-foot-7 guard Ausar Thompson defending him the majority of the time. The win puts the Blue Crew right back where they were last summer: in the second round of the $1-million-dollar, winner-take-all tournament.
“It feels good to get the first one, especially at home,” Blue Crew head coach and former Bluejay bucket-getter Josh Jones said. “We had five goals in training camp and the first one was to take care of home court and win that first game. You can’t really say you’re competing in ‘TBT’ until you move on to the next round. Now we feel like we’ve settled in and are in an actual tournament.”
Admon Gilder, a sharpshooting combo guard at Texas A&M and Gonzaga from 2015-2020, led the Blue Crew in scoring with 12 points, none bigger than the three he put on the board late to extend Omaha’s lead to five. The first stoppage in play of any kind at the under-four-minute mark of the fourth quarter triggers what is called the Elam Ending where the game clock is turned off and a target of eight points more than high score at the time of the stoppage is set and the first team to hit it wins. After leading by as much as 15 points nearly midway through the third quarter, the Blue Crew were up only three, 66-63, when Jones called a timeout to initiate the final stretch. With Omaha leading 70-68, Gilder cut into the lane, finished a tough layup while being knocked to the ground, and converted the free throw to make it 73-68, effectively setting up Foster’s sudden death sequence to clinch the win.
“Deverell [Biggs] did a great job of penetrating, which is what he does best, and he found me cutting through the lane and I was able to finish,” Gilder said of his clutch bucket. “I have to give big shoutout to Josh. He’s the guy that made everything possible. It feels good to get the win, and a perfect way to end it with Mr. Creighton over here hitting the big free throw.”
Foster’s heroics came in vintage fashion with him isolated at the top of the key, the ball in his hands, sizing up his defender. He drove right, stopped at the elbow and drew the foul to put the game on ice at the line.
“That was the exact shot I was trying to get,” Foster said. “I knew they were going to play up on me and didn’t want me looking for my jump shot, so I just get a little space, pump fake to get him in the air and make the ref make the call. I knew we needed a point, so I figured it was better to get it at the free throw line.”
Former Omaha Central and UNO Maverick standout Tre’Shawn Thurman was the third and final member of the Blue Crew to score in double figures on Saturday night. Thurman finished with 11 points on 5-of-9 shooting, bookended by a rim-rattling dunk in transition early in the game to get the crowd of nearly 1,700 juiced up and a tip-in on a missed jumper by Gilder to give Omaha their first points during the Elam Ending. Former Bluejay Ronnie Harrell didn’t crack double figures in the scoring column, but his impact was felt in a variety of ways, particularly on the backboards and in the defensive back court where his full court, man-to-man defense forced Team Overtime’s primary ballhandlers, Amen Thompson and Marcus Thornton, to work hard to bring the ball up the floor and get the offense initiated.
“Ronnie set the tone, straight up,” Jones said. “Ronnie going full court and pressuring the twins really allowed our guys to have confidence and press up. It’s not like we were nervous or scared of them, but with the way our offense is we need a point person as the on-ball defender. He was at a high intensity level tonight and hopefully he can keep it up.”
Along with Foster’s one-on-one heroics and Harrell’s versatility, the five former Bluejays were also true to form as past members of the “Shooter U” moniker they helped the Creighton program earned during their college days. Foster, Harrell, Austin Chatman, Jahenns Manigat, and Manny Suarez each knocked down a 3-pointer against Team Overtime and combined to shoot 7-of-14 from beyond the arc for the game. There was even one stretch in the first quarter where Foster, Manigat, and Suarez hit four 3s in the span of five possessions to turn a 7-7 tie into an 8-point lead. It was a familiar sequence for the Creighton fans in attendance and for the guys on the floor.
“It was like a mini-Century Link in there, or I guess it’s The CHI now,” Foster said.
The Blue Crew will take on Team Arkansas in the next round of the Omaha Regional on Sunday night at 7:00 p.m. (CT). The winner of that game moves on to face either the Gutter Cat Gang or Always Us (Oregon Alumni) in the regional final on Tuesday night. All the games will take place at D.J. Sokol Arena.
