With today's 85-73 win over a Juan Dixon coached DMV's Finest, team Liberty Ballers is headed to Chicago for The Basketball Tournament's Sweet 17. As opposed to the typical Sweet 16, last year's champion (Notre Dame Fighting Alumni) will join the 16 teams that qualified from the four other regions.
After a hard fought victory Saturday, the guys from LB were in control of the game the entire time on Sunday. Reggie Redding led our team in scoring with 17 points on 5-12 shooting, and also dished out a team high 7 assists. He's not a true point guard, but has done a great job for the team since being called upon to take a ball handling role.
Our other point guard, Ronald Moore, sat out yesterday due to illness, but was back in action today. Moore, the NCAA assists leader in 2010, scored 8 points and dished out 5 assists in 15 minutes of action. Having him on the court today was a real game changer.
In the front court, I can't say enough about Jake Cohen, Ryan Rossiter, and Antonio Pena. Cohen was 4-4 from beyond the arc today, finishing with 12 points and 3 rebounds. Rossiter and Pena (who now has the team calling me "State Farm" because of the commercial) led the team today with seven rebounds a piece, as Liberty Ballers dominated the low block over a bigger DMV team. TBT has no other team with big men as versatile as ours, and it'll be a real difference maker as we move into the later rounds.
Kenny Hasbrouck only took four shots, but had 5 points and 3 assists. Kenny's lights out when he gets going, and we're definitely going to need his scoring in Chicago. Ryan Brooks added 8 points on 2-5 shooting, as well as 2 rebounds and 3 assists. Brooks can do it all.
Garrett Williamson can always be called upon for his stifling defense. That doesn't always show up on the box score, but what does was his 8 points on 3-6 shooting.
James Minor-Bell was an X-Factor for LB today, adding 11 points in 11 minutes, as well as a late steal to ice it.
It's been a real treat to work with these guys, and we're all very excited for our game Friday against Boeheim's Army, which includes Hakim Warrick and Eric Devendorf. The Chicago regional games are played at DePaul University, so if you're in the area, make sure you get tickets.
Thank you to everyone who has supported the team, whether it was voting to become a fan of the team and securing us a first round bye, or even buying a t-shirt.
As always, you'll be able to check out our game by streaming it on TheTournament.com. More info on a time later.
Go Liberty Ballers.