The AfterShocks are now in select company with just five other teams in The Basketball Tournament (TBT).
Wichita State’s alumni team became the sixth team to qualify for four or more tournament quarterfinals after a 66-63 win Tuesday night against Forever Coogs, a Houston alumni team, and claimed another Wichita Regional crown.
Along with advancing to their fourth quarterfinals, the AfterShocks now have the benefit of playing in front of the Shocker Faithful for the rest of the tournament, should they continue to win. La Familia, Kentucky’s alumni team, lost in their regional final on Tuesday, and the two other top regional hosts lost in their second-round games (rankings were determined by the number of regional tickets sold before the tournament started).
Coincidentally, a TBT staff member confirmed with The Sunflower that Eberlein Drive — who beat La Familia — also advanced to their fourth quarterfinals the same day as the AfterShocks.
“We control our own destiny,” head coach Zach Bush said. “This is the first time in the history of TBT that we’ve had the opportunity to continue hosting potentially the whole way … We feel like this is the opportunity that we’ve been waiting for.”
The AfterShocks faced their most uphill battles of the tournament against Forever Coogs, with some questionable calls by the referees and a chippy style that the Houston alumni played with. Even with the outside forces, Bush credited the team’s toughness, togetherness and poise as factors in overcoming the game’s difficulties.
“It’s very easy to let it go off the rails when you play a team as tough as that,” Bush said. “And they’re different than most TBT teams in that it feels like you’re playing a very connected college team from their philosophy and defensive principles.”
Another surge from the honorary Shockers
It was the non-Wichita State alumni yet again who led the team to the win. Forward Rashard Kelly, a former Shocker, said that they’ve come up huge for the AfterShocks in their three wins so far this tournament.
“They see how much we care and that upholds their standards,” Kelly said. “They care as much as we do, like they’ve been here the whole time.”
Center Marcus Santos-Silva scored 15 points on 7-of-8 shooting and grabbed a game-high eight rebounds.
“(We) got him the ball on the block finally,” Bush said. “Dude went to work; such a pressure release when you can do that.”
Kelly added that “he’s a presence,” and “a key player for us.”
Santos-Silva said he mostly focused on the defensive end of the ball for the first two games of the tournament, and got more with the flow of the game offensively on Tuesday.
“And when my time was called today, I just had (to make) sure I got them to trust me and trust them that I could do what I had to do down low,” Santos-Silva said.
Guard Nike Sibande scored 14 points, bringing his total to 48 for the tournament. Guard Marcus Keene scored a game-high 17 points and hit the shot that sent the AfterShocks to their fourth quarterfinals.
Throughout the first two games this year, Keene said he’s played well, but the shot just wasn’t falling for him. He totaled 18 points on a combined 5-of-24 shooting during them.
“That’s what happens with shooters,” he said. “But, I stuck with it. I’m confident in myself, I work hard, and my teammates know me; they keep encouraging me. And you know, they drew up a play.”
After Bush called a timeout with a 3-pointer from either team to decide the game in the Elam Ending, Keene received the ball and rejected a screen from his teammate to find space and get past his defender. Then, he found his spot, squared up with the rim, and put away the game with a silky splash from deep.
“(Bush) said, ‘Run zipper. Get open,’” Keene said with a smile about the talk in the huddle during the timeout.
Kelly said the shot Keene made to win it is what he does best.
“And to see him get it going, to see him enjoying himself, to see him get the misses out, it’s just great momentum for the rest of the team,” he said.
Game recap
The crowd atmosphere from the opening tipoff rekindled the old American Athletic Conference rivalry between Wichita State and Houston.
“It was an AAC clash, the top two teams,” Kelly said. “We needed the crowd tonight. You know, they were booing, we were booing. They were happy, we were happy. Just having that energy, that momentum on our side meant a lot.”
Even though the AfterShocks were backed by their fans after every defensive stop and made shot, they found themselves trailing by the most they had all tournament late in the first quarter, 19-14. Sibande kept the crowd and AfterShocks in it with a couple of slashing drives, but they still went into the second quarter trailing, 21-17.
Three quick makes from Santos-Silva and one from guard James Woodard in the second quarter erased the four-point deficit the AfterShocks ended the first quarter with. Keene later added eight-straight for the team in black and yellow to open up a seven-point lead, 33-26.
With six seconds left, Sibande splashed home another triple to give the AfterShocks a 42-36 lead going into halftime. Santos-Silva, Keene and Sibande combined for 32 of the AfterShocks’ points at the break.
The AfterShocks’ offense fell flat for the first four minutes of the third quarter, as the team missed their first four shots and turned the ball over three times. It wasn’t until there were less than five minutes left in the period that the AfterShocks scored, and it was by way of a goaltend called on Forever Coogs, 44-41.
Sibande jumpstarted the crowd once more with a putback slam after another offensive lull. But on the next possession, Forever Coogs went down the court in just 16 seconds and converted an old-fashioned three-point play to retake the lead, 49-48.
Forever Coogs countered everything the AfterShocks sent at them in the final minute of the quarter, and the AfterShocks trailed at the end of the period, 52-50.
Tensions soared in the fourth quarter, as multiple calls against the AfterShocks resulted in groans and “refs, you suck” chants from the crowd. The AfterShocks couldn’t find footing throughout the period, but managed a slim, 58-57, lead headed into the Elam Ending, with the target score of 66 set for both teams.
With the crowd on their feet the entire Elam Ending, the AfterShocks started strong with baskets from Keene and Santos-Silva to hang on to a three-point advantage, 62-59. Forever Coogs tied the game at 63 later on, which set up Keene’s game-winning three.
The AfterShocks shot 27-of-57 (47.4%) for the game and 6-of-25 (24%) from deep. They outrebounded Forever Coogs by 13, 38-25.
Up next
The AfterShocks will move on to play the winner of the Kansas City Regional on Sunday, July 27, at 8 p.m. in Koch Arena.
They’ll have to wait until the Kansas City Regional ends to find out who they play, however. JHX Hoops, a Kansas alumni team, and Heartfire will compete on Wednesday, July 23, at 6 p.m. to determine the AfterShocks’ quarterfinals opponent.
