Penn State alumni team TBT run ends with quarterfinals loss
For more than 22 minutes of basketball, Penn State basketball’s alumni team dazzled. Meeting the Butler alumni team, Eberlein Drive, the former Nittany Lions sprinted out to a 54-41 lead.
It wouldn’t last.
Playing with a short bench with only seven available players, the Happy Valley Hoopers’ hot shooting went cold, stops ran out, and a surprise run in this year’s The Basketball Tournament came to a close with an 85-71 loss. The decision in Houston’s quarterfinals ended the former Nittany Lions’ shot at a trip to the semifinals in Philadelphia on Friday. Instead, their 2024 TBT showing – the second-ever for the program – finished with three wins in the Pittsburgh regional.
How it happened
Out of the gates, a few early misses found Penn State’s alumni in a 5-0 hole. The miscues were short-lived, though, as Sam Sessoms, Curtis Jones, and Myreon Jones got hot on the offensive end of the floor. Led by three makes from deep for Curtis Jones, and a 4-of-4 start from beyond the arc, the Happy Valley Hoopers built a 28-18 lead in the first quarter.
They wouldn’t relent from there. Though struggling to get stops against an Eberlein Drive team that found a similarly hot start scoring, the former Nittany Lions managed to largely maintain a lead fluctuating between eight and 10 points until the halftime buzzer. Capped by a one-handed runner from Sessoms, the Penn State team took a 50-41 advantage into the half.
Hanging on
To open the second half, the former Nittany Lions kept the pressure up early. Opening a 54-41 lead on back-to-back buckets, though, their opponents reversed course.
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Focusing on face guarding Sessoms, the Happy Valley Hoopers’ primary offensive threat was flummoxed the rest of the way. The result was a 12-0 run for Eberlein Drive that only a Myreon Jones floater could stop. And, despite holding off the loss of their lead for a few more possessions, the dam finally broke with a 3-pointer on the wing to make it a 56-56 game.
Only a Jones half court heave at the buzzer to end the third quarter, the Hoopers’ first make from deep in the second half, kept the deficit within reach at 64-63 going into the fourth.
Falling short
Clearly fatigued with a short rotation, the Penn State alumni shots were rushed and stopped falling. A shooting percentage that was a remarkable 59 percent from the floor and 8 of 12 from deep in the first half dipped to well below 50 percent for the game as turnovers and miscues took hold.
Still within sight at 72-69 with the Elam Ending’s four-minute mark nearing, a sequence of two made free throws for Eberlein Drive, a Sessoms turnover, and a runout made it a 76-69 game. Unable to connect one last time before a stoppage under four minutes, Penn State’s alumni team had little resistence left closing out the 85-71 win.
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