The Basketball Tournament: Two teams secure spots in semifinals

There will be five more TBT games at UD Arena in the days ahead
Americana for Austism celebrates a quarterfinal victory in The Basketball Tournament on Thursday, July 28, 2022, at UD Arena. Photo courtest of TBT

Credit: Ben Solomon

Credit: Ben Solomon

Americana for Austism celebrates a quarterfinal victory in The Basketball Tournament on Thursday, July 28, 2022, at UD Arena. Photo courtest of TBT

Two teams have secured spots in the semifinals of The Basketball Tournament, and two more will advance Friday night at UD Arena.

The Wichita State alumni team Aftershocks will play Americana for Autism, which is playing to raise awareness of autism, in the semifinals of The Basketball Tournament at 6 p.m. Saturday.

The Aftershocks won the Wichita Region and then won the only quarterfinal game not being played at UD Arena on Wednesday in Wichita, Kan., beating the Gutter Cats 74-67.

Darral Willis Jr., who averaged 10.1 points in two seasons (2016-18) at Wichita State, leads the Aftershocks in scoring (13.3 points per game) through four games. The roster includes eight players from Wichita State and three from other schools.

Americana for Autism beat Florida TNT 93-83 in the quarterfinals Thursday night at UD Arena. Femi Olujobi, who played for Oakland, North Carolina A&T and DePaul, scored 14 points as did former Georgetown guard Chris Wright.

The team also includes Delroy James, a 1,460-point scorer at Rhode Island (2007-11), and J’Covan Brown, who scored 1,367 points at Texas (2009-12).

There will be two games at UD Arena on Friday night. Blue Collar U, a team of Buffalo alums, plays Heartfire at 7 p.m. The Dayton Flyers alumni team, Red Scare, plays the West Virginia alumni team, Best Virginia, at 9 p.m. The winner plays in the semifinals at 4 p.m. Saturday.

The semifinal winners play in the $1 million championship game at 8 p.m. Tuesday at UD Arena.

About the Author