The penultimate day of the Rumph gave the fans at the DAC a treat. Following the Women’s championship, the afternoon’s main course saw two men’s semi-final matchups for a spot in Monday night’s finals.
Sunday saw Rumph Center take on Blue Magic, but all eyes were on the main event. After a game of fireworks on Day 2, L.O.E. took on TBB in a rematch, with a championship appearance on the line.
Game One
Since Rumph Center’s opening night loss, they have been a completely different team. They won back-to-back elimination games behind the trio of Khalif Meares, Rashool Diggins and Nic Jourdain.
The first semi-final looked to see if Rumph Center could continue the trend against Blue Magic, who had yet to lose a game.
Instead, the game became the Archie Goodwin show.
The former Kentucky Wildcat couldn’t miss, starting the game five for five and at one point nearly outscoring Rumph Center by himself. His hot start was enough to send Rumph Center packing in a 77-60 win.
Blue Magic entered the day having fallen in the same round last year to eventual champs F.O.E. and showed the urgency to not go home again. Goodwin had the ball poked out by Meares, but Rumph Center couldn’t convert on the chance and squandered the opportunity.
From there, Blue Magic began to cook.
Hall drilled a three-ball, but Meares countered with back-to-back buckets of his own to keep the game level. Goodwin made up for his turnover by hitting a three in Meares’ face, and he didn’t stop there.
Goodwin followed the three up with another, and then another. His five straight buckets boosted a Blue Magic squad that began the matchup six-for-six from the field.
Following Goodwin’s quick start, the rest of Blue Magic began to follow suit.
Hall piled on nine first-half points and before long, Ed Croswell joined the fun by tacking on seven points of his own to give Blue Magic a cushion. However, Rumph Center refused to go down and began to chip away at the lead.
Meares became the catalyst for the offensive surge as his nine points in the first half gave Rumph Center momentum to get within striking distance. Jourdain had seven points and while Diggins’ offense was dormant, his three steals helped his squad go into halftime down by just eight.
Rumph Center went into halftime with some momentum, but it was quickly zapped away.
Blue Magic came out of the break with the same fire they started the game with. They quickly ballooned the game up to double-digits and Rumph Center was never able to catch the same fire as they had heading into halftime.
Goodwin’s scoring touch went away in the second half, but Hall and former Duke guard Trevon Duval picked up the slack. They helped push the lead back up to double-digits and Rumph Center had no response.
When they did, Blue Magic’s defense wiped away any chances of a comeback.
Crosswell became a brick wall on defense to make sure points wouldn’t happen. At the final buzzer, Blue Magic punched the first ticket to a championship. Goodwin finished with 26 points and Croswell had 19 to close out Rumph Center.
Blue Magic will take on the winner of L.O.E. and TBB in Monday’s championship while Rumph Center falls one game short of a second straight finals berth.
By Ryan Mack
Game Two
The final game of semifinal Sunday was a rematch of the thrilling day two game between TBB and L.O.E. The teams went bucket for bucket on Friday night, which ended in a TBB win behind a last-second three from Lakeem McAliley.
With a spot in the championship on the line, the stage was set for an intense game.
It did not disappoint.
The two teams went blow for blow the entire game and with 14 seconds left, TBB held a one point lead. Mo Watson was at the free throw line and made the first free throw but missed the second, giving L.O.E. the chance to tie or win. Instead, the TBB defense clamped down and did not let L.O.E. get a shot off to pull out the 69-67 win and move on to the championship.
TBB’s explosive offense was on full display from the opening tip. Neal Quinn got free down low for a dunk, then Justin Jaworski connected on a three. Taylor Funk got free for a layup and Erik Timko corralled a rebound for a putback layup to take an 11-4 lead and force an L.O.E. timeout.
Josh Sharkey ended the TBB run out of the timeout with a layup and the teams settled into an offensive battle where neither team’s defense could get a stop.
Sharkey, Lamar Stevens and Ahmad “JR” Gilbert did everything on offense for L.O.E. to keep them within reach, combining for 21 of their 27 first half points. However, TBB constantly had an answer, mostly from Jaworski.
“Somebody’s Boss,” who was held in check by L.O.E. on Friday, putting up just seven points, found his groove early and often in the first half.
Jaworski made a three to push the TBB lead to double digits for the first time, but the big advantage did not last long. L.O.E. slowly began to chip away but it was Jaworski who sparked TBB again with a three near the end of the first half.
Sharkey had a chance to give L.O.E. momentum going into the break but his three-pointer rimmed out at the buzzer and L.O.E. went into halftime trailing 37-27.
L.O.E. turned up the heat on TBB coming out of halftime, clearly desperate to get back to the championship. JR hit a three to start the second half before the game became the Lamar Stevens and Josh Sharkey clinic.
Stevens hit a three to cut the deficit to one and Sharkey hit a three a few minutes later to get L.O.E.’s deficit down to one again. L.O.E. finally took the lead at 52-48 after Stevens and Sharkey got back-to-back layups and Stevens hit a three.
L.O.E. could not extend its lead, however, as Jaworski put TBB on his back to keep them in the game. Jaworski made a pair of layups and another three to keep close with L.O.E. He finished the game with 30 points.
The teams traded buckets in the final few minutes with neither able to string together stops. TBB found itself with a two-point lead with 14 seconds left and its defense was able to come up with the key stop, preventing L.O.E. from getting a clean look to tie and held on for the semifinal win.
By Colin Schofield