PITTSBURGH — Another night in Pittsburgh, another upset victory in The Basketball Tournament (TBT) for Happy Valley Hoopers.
The five seed Happy Valley used a second quarter to remember, defeating Stars of Storrs, the UConn Alumni Team, 94-83.
The Hoopers advance to the Regional Final tomorrow night, where they will face off against Zoo Crew, the Pittsburgh Alumni Team.
The game started with a bang, as both teams were hot early. The Stars of Storrs, led by familiar names like Ryan Boatright, Jerome Dyson and Jeff Adrian, were competing in TBT for the first time and featured a roster packed with in-the-paint power. Fortunately for Happy Valley, Qudus Wahab made his TBT debuted after missing Saturday’s victory over No. 4 Dubois Dream.
A year ago, the Hoopers struggled to find any offense, losing in Round 1 after only scoring 49 points. They matched that total in the first half last night, with a 25-9 second quarter margin giving the John Harrar led team an eighteen point margin at the half.
The Stars of Storrs managed to get it to single digits, but until the Elam Ending. Unlike most basketball games, the TBT uses the Elam Ending, where 8 points are added to the winning team’s score at the first whistle after the 4:00 mark in the fourth quarter.
Designed to remove fouling and free throws at the end of the game, the Elam Endimg ensures ending on a game winner. The TBT features a $1,000 bonus to anyone wearing Puma’s when they score the game winner. After Harrar scooped the grand Saturday, last night was all about Greg Lee.
Lee, the starting power forward, finished 7 for 10 from beyond the arc, scoring 22 points along with 7 rebounds and 2 assists in just 24 minutes. He drained two threes in the Elam Ending, including the thousand dollar shot to win the game. Lee played just one season for Penn State, and made only eight threes in his career.
Happy Valley started the same five from a game ago, and Sam Sessoms (or ‘Sesssoms’, as his jersey says) continued to prove no one in TBT can guard him, scoring 18 points and adding 5 assists in 27 minutes. The Jones’, Myreon and Curtis, added 16 and 8, and Harrar chipped in with 15 points and 6 rebounds.
In the other Regional Semifinal, the Zoo Crew (Pitt Alumni Team) defeated Best Virginia (WVU Alumni Team), meaning our Happy Valley Hoopers will have to win a ‘road game’ tomorrow night (7:00 pm at the Petersen Events Center, on the University of Pittsburgh’s campus).
How You Can Help the Happy Valley Hoopers
Despite the team’s run thus far, the Happy Valley Hoopers need your support. All TBT teams are self funded, and while the winning team in the tournament earns the one million dollar prize, every other team makes nothing. You can donate to the team through their official Go Fund Me.
Along with Shots Gotta Fall Podcast, as the only Penn State Basketball media actually covering the games at the facility, we encourage you to buy tickets to the game as well.
PSU v Pitt for a spot in the Elite 8…it doesn’t get any better than this!
Evan Smith is an alum of Penn State (Marketing, Economics, 2011) and a basketball season ticket holder since 2006.
NittanyCentral is his second reporting job following the Men's Basketball program. He co-founded and co-hosts the Shots Gotta Fall - The Penn State Basketball Podcast (the premiere, the best, the only) with Steve Travis.
Smith's most proud moment covering the team was seeing the national No. 9 ranking during Pat Chambers' last year. His most embarrassing moment was spending almost a thousand dollars to travel 2,000 miles in 46 hours to watch the Nittany Lions lose to Temple in the 2011 NCAA Tournament (screw you Juan Fernandez).
NittanyCentral is his second reporting job following the Men's Basketball program. He co-founded and co-hosts the Shots Gotta Fall - The Penn State Basketball Podcast (the premiere, the best, the only) with Steve Travis.
Smith's most proud moment covering the team was seeing the national No. 9 ranking during Pat Chambers' last year. His most embarrassing moment was spending almost a thousand dollars to travel 2,000 miles in 46 hours to watch the Nittany Lions lose to Temple in the 2011 NCAA Tournament (screw you Juan Fernandez).
Latest posts by Evan Smith (see all)
Happy Valley Hoopers Defeat UConn Alumni Team, Advance to TBT Elite 8