The Denton Record-Chronicle is offering North Texas fans a chance to read all of our content for $1 per month leading up to football season. Sign up here: dentonrc.com/subscribe-now/sports-offer/ We Are Bleed Green was right where they wanted to be late in their game against Challenge ALS in the second round of The Basketball Tournament on Sunday.
The North Texas alumni team had a nine-point lead and seemingly all the momentum in the 64-team, $1 million, winner-takes-all event. The beauty of TBT is that wild swings are the norm. One of them ended We Are Bleed Green’s 2024 TBT run in a 66-63 loss at the Fertitta Center in Houston.
The UNT alumni team went cold offensively after going up 57-48 late in the second half and couldn’t recover in a matchup of teams with TBT finals appearances in their history. We Are Bleed Green fell in the finals last year. Challenge ALS played in the title game in 2017.
Sunday’s game went down to the wire in the Elam Ending. The unique format for the tournament calls for the game clock to be stopped at the first dead ball under the 4-minute mark. Eight points are added to the score of the team in the lead to establish a target score.
The first team to reach that total wins. We Are Bleed Green entered the Elam Ending with a 57-55 lead. Both teams were a shot away from reaching the target score of 65 after Jordan Stevens hit a 3 to pull the UNT alumni team within 64-63.
Luis Rodriguez grabbed an offensive rebound and hit a jumper on the ensuing possession to give Challenge ALS the win. “Thank you to everyone who showed support throughout this journey this season,” the team posted to its X account. “We will be back next season.
” We Are Bleed Green has won a game in each of their three appearances in TBT and have featured several of the same players along the way. Stevens, one of those veterans, scored 23 points to lead the UNT alumni team. Kai Huntsberry added 16 and Brandon Jefferson 14.
Thomas Bell, one of We Are Bleed Green’s key players, fouled out late in the second half. The UNT alumni team struggled without him but were in a good spot late after Stevens hit a 3 to put We Are Bleed Green up 60-57. Longtime NBA player Darren Collison scored the next five points for Challenge ALS, which was up 64-60 following a 7-0 run.
Another Stevens 3 gave the UNT alumni a chance to go for the win in the Elam Ending, but We Are Bleed Green couldn’t come up with the stop they needed to get the ball back. Stevens’ two late 3s were among the few that dropped for the UNT alumni team. We Are Bleed Green shot just 27% (10 of 37) from beyond the arc.
Rodriguez led Challenge ALS with 18 points. Collison added 13. We Are Bleed Green got off to a rough start and trailed 12-2 early before getting on track offensively.
Stevens hit a jumper for the UNT alumni team to spark an 8-0 run. We Are Bleed Green went into halftime with momentum after Huntsberry hit a 3 to pull the UNT alumni team within 37-35. We Are Bleed Green were locked in a tight battle the rest of the way.
The UNT alumni team pulled out a series of close games in the event the last two years and needed a big shot again to pull out the win on Sunday. Challenge ALS made sure We Are Bleed Green didn’t have the opportunity when Rodriguez scored. Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup.
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