This time, Carmen's Crew advances past the first round.
Last year, top-seeded Carmen's Crew suffered an upset loss that knocked them out of The Basketball Tournament in the first round. But Ohio State's alumni team would not let that happen again, downing Mid American Unity 77-65 to advance in the tournament.
The teams traded buckets for much of the first half with neither ever taking a commanding lead, resulting in a 37-37 tie at the half. Carmen's Crew took over quickly in the second half, hopping out to a double-digit lead midway through the third quarter.
Mid American Unity battled and never allowed the game to get out of hand, cutting the lead to single digits for most of the fourth quarter, but they never really threatened, either.
Carmen's Crew never relinquished its lead throughout the fourth quarter and used a late run to cruise to a 77-65 victory, with Kosta Koufos scoring six Elam Ending points and hitting two free throws to clinch the victory.
David Lighty earned player of the game honors, scoring 19 points on an 8-for-12 shooting performance, shooting 3-for-4 from beyond the arc. Koufos was just behind with 16 points and William Buford finished with 14. Both Koufos and Buford also finished with 10 rebounds.
With the win, Carmen's Crew advances to the second round of the tournament where they will face Men of Mackey, a Purdue alumni team, on Sunday at 4 p.m. on ESPN.
