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A personal 11-0 run by Joe Chapman midway through the first half blew open an already lopsided game as Golden Eagles Alumni knocked off Spartan Heroes, 97-70, in the second round of the 2016 edition of The Basketball Tournament. With the win, the team of Marquette alums advance to the Super 16 in Philadelphia where they’ll play Armored Athlete on either Thursday, July 21 or Friday, July 22.
GEA was already up double digits by the time that I got my feed fired up a few minutes into the game, and it just kept booming from there. Joe Chapman was electric from long range less than 24 hours earlier, and he busted the game wide open with three straight threes for the Marquette squad plus a putback to cap off that personal 11-0 run.
It was a 51-27 game at the break, and I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that head coach Wesley Matthews spent halftime reminding the crew about how they came back from a 15 point margin in the second half against Hoopville Warriors on Saturday night. Whatever he did actually say worked, as GEA brushed up against a 40 point margin in the later stages of the second half before finally settling on the 27 point final spread.
Dwight Buycks was the high scorer again for GEA, totaling up 27 points on a 10-of-16 shooting performance, including five makes on eight tries from long range. Dwight Burke (14), Joe Chapman (16), and a debuting Jamil Wilson all cracked into double digits in points, with Wilson punctuating his 22 point performance with a powerful windmill dunk in the final seconds.
Brandon Wood had 23 points to lead Spartan Heroes, the team of Michigan State alumni. GEA held their foes to just 42% shooting on the afternoon, including a woeful 26% from behind the three point line.
Up Next: We don’t have the official schedule, but we know that Golden Eagles Alumni will play Armored Athlete in the next round. Armored Athlete has former Indiana players Jordan Hulls, Will Sheehey, and Christian Watford on the roster, along with long time Butler star Roosevelt Jones. I’ll give anyone a dollar if they can explain how Roosevelt Jones is relegated to a bench role on that squad.
If it’s an afternoon start on Thursday or Friday, the game will be streamed on ESPN3. If GEA snags one of the night time tips, the game will be on ESPN2.