The Basketball Tournament: Pollard puts finishing touch on Red Scare rout in first round

Early in the 2014-15 season, when he was a sophomore, Pollard was on the court when Devon Scott beat Texas A&M on a tip-in with under a second to play. As a junior in the 2015-16 season, he had a great view of the buzzer-beater by Kyle Davis against Miami.

In all his life, growing up in Chicago, playing four seasons in Dayton or overseas as a professional, Pollard had never made a buzzer-beater until Saturday. His jump shot put the exclamation point on an 88-44 victory for the Dayton alumni team, the Red Scare, against BC Vahakni City in the first round of The Basketball Tournament.

Former Ohio State Buckeyes guard CJ Walker gave up the ball twice to Pollard on the last possession, perhaps recognizing the hundreds of Dayton fans in attendance would enjoy seeing a Flyer make the winning shot. When he got the ball the second time, Pollard obviously wanted the shot.

“I wanted it, but not if I was going to have to go off script,” said Pollard, who scored more points in college basketball (1,171) than anyone on the Red Scare roster, “so I tried to give it back to the point guard. The whole bench was like, ‘Get it!’ So I was like, all right, I’ll get it. I went to my go-to move — what is lately my go-to move.”

The basket shot set off a celebration as players mobbed Pollard, who finished with four points on 2-of-5 shooting. There was no doubt the Red Scare would win when Pollard got the ball as it tried to reach the Elam Ending target score of 87, but the shot still brought hundreds of Dayton fans at the Covelli Center to their feet.

That’s one reason people love the Elam Ending, created by UD grad Nick Elam. It brings drama to even the biggest blowouts — and this was a rout from start to finish.

The Red Scare shot 44.7 percent from the field and held No. 15 Vahakni City, a team featuring four players who won a championship in Armenia last season, to 25 percent. The Red Scare had a 55-40 rebounding advantage and committed only eight turnovers, half of Vahakni City’s total.

Former Ohio State center Trevor Thompson scored eight of the Red Scare’s first 11 points and finished with a team-high 20 points.

Sibert, playing his first game with the Red Scare, made 5 of 9 3-pointers and scored 17 points. Competing in the TBT’s 33-Point Contest on Thursday at the Covelli Center proved to be an advantage for Sibert. He advanced to the finals of that event, which will be held Aug. 1 at UD Arena.

“Getting a feel for the balls and the rims, it was definitely good,” Sibert said.

Brandon Spearman, who played one season at Dayton before transferring to Hawaii, added 13 points off the bench and brought the crowd to its feet with two dunks in the second half. Former Flyer Darrell Davis scored nine points, as did former Ohio State guard CJ Walker.

The No. 2 seed Red Scare will play No. 10 seed Category 5, a team featuring six former Miami Hurricanes, at 2 p.m. Sunday at the Covelli Center. The game will be televised on ESPN. Category 5 beat No. 7 Wolf Blood 74-65 on Saturday.

The winner will play in the third round at 7 p.m. Tuesday with a spot in the quarterfinals at 9 p.m. on July 31 at UD Arena on the line.

Under head coach Joey Gruden, the former Dayton walk-on, the Red Scare improved to 3-0 in the first round of the TBT and 5-2 in three appearances.

“It felt good to get out there with everyone again,” Gruden said. “I think everyone was excited. We played with a ton of energy. We showed what we can do.”