The Basketball Tournament featured a major upset Sunday thanks to Mo Creek.
Basketball fans are patiently waiting for the restart of the NBA season in Orlando. But there are still other competitive basketball games being played that deserve to be watched. The Basketball Tournament 2020 is taking place in Columbus, Ohio, and the tournament has not disappointed. The top-ranked team, Carmen’s Crew, went down in the Round of 16 and another major upset took place Sunday.
Sideline Cancer entered as the No. 22 overall team out of 24 in this year’s tournament. The squad had a semifinal matchup Sunday against the second-ranked Overseas Elite, which happens to be a four-time champion in the six-year history of the event.
Sideline Cancer’s Mo Creek decided an upset was in order.
🚨 DOWN GOES OVERSEAS ELITE 🚨@SidelineTBT upsets the four-time TBT champs to advance to the championship game! pic.twitter.com/1jX8XDUaL6
— ESPN (@espn) July 12, 2020
Mo Creek hit unique game-winning shot.
This game-winner was not a buzzer-beater, but rather a shot to win in an Elam-style ending. This involves turning the game clock off and playing to a target score. Creek and the rest of his team knew a 3-point shot would win the game, so he dug into his clutch gene to send his team to the championship game on Tuesday against Golden Eagles.
Overseas Elite is a team featuring former NBA All-Star Joe Johnson, and it was a shock to see them fall in this manner. But the bracket-style format is different in this year’s TBT and the No. 22 ranked team is now in the finals with a shot at winning $1 million.
Creek — and Marcus Keene, who led the way with 22 points — is a hero to his teammates and also provided basketball fans with one of the better live sports moments during quarantine. The excitement seen from Sideline Cancer, even without fans in the stands, provides some hope that the return of sports will be just fine in empty venues. As long as the players care (and stay healthy), the competition is enough to provide moments like this one.