In the opening round of The Basketball Tournament, HBCUnited survived game point shots on two separate occasions against team Skip To My Lou, winning 76-72. The opening round of TBT at Rucker Park seemed to be imploding on HBCUnited before a game winning three in the corner from former Hampton Pirate Malique Trent.
The format of TBT calls for a “Elam ending.” Here’s how it works. At the first stoppage at or under 4:00 of the 4th quarter, the game clock stops and timed play ends. At this juncture, a target score shall be set, equal to the leading team’s score plus eight (8). After returning from the media timeout, play shall resume without a game clock but with the shot clock, until one team matches or exceeds the target score.
The target score was set at 75 with HBCUnited leading 67-65 at the final television timeout. HBCUnited had led the entire game and at one point was dominating Skip To My Lou with a 29-10 lead.
Skip To My Lou took its first lead of the game at 69-68 after a Terry Tarpey layup. T.J. Gibbs made a bucket to push the lead to 72-68, meaning Skip To My Lou was one three pointer away from closing the game out.
HBCUnited wouldn’t allow another made bucket from that point forward, closing out the game on a 8-0 run. Prior to the run they struggled on 1-13 shooting in the fourth quarter.
Brandon Tabb, formerly of Bethune-Cookman, led HBCUnited in scoring with 14 points. HBCUnited plays the No. 1 seed in the Rucker Regional on Sunday, YGC, a team sponsored by Boston Celtics guard Marcus Smart. The game tips at Rucker Park at 8pm EST on Sunday July 17.