Colorado Alumni Team Tops Utah, Advances To Final Four Of TBT
July 23, 2016 | Men's Basketball
Hall Leads Team Colorado with 22 points
PHILADELPHIA — Team Colorado is headed to New York City and the final four of The Basketball Tournament.
The team, comprised of Colorado basketball alumni, claimed the West Region championship by defeating Team Utah, 83-78, Saturday in Philadelphia.
Marcus Hall, a legitimate tournament MVP candidate, scored a game-high 22 points, hitting 9-of-20 from the field, to go along with six rebounds and four assists. Calvin Williams registered a double-double with 10 points and a game-high 11 rebounds.
Austin Dufault had 17 points, including a couple big second-half 3-pointers. He was 3-of-4 from downtown and also added four rebounds. Dominique Coleman had 16 points while Marcus Relphorde added 14.
Team Colorado struggled early, shooting only 34 percent in the first half allowing Utah to jump out to lead as large as 14 points before going into the locker room up 44-35.
The former Buffaloes turned it on in the second half, using a 12-1 run out of the gate to quickly erase Utah's lead. Colorado hit 54 percent from the field in the final 20 minutes, including 7-of-14 from 3-point range.
Hall hit several clutch baskets, including a late runner that gave Colorado an 81-76 lead with about one minute left. Utah hit a late layup to move to within three, but Hall and Coleman each hit a free throw to ice the game.
Team Colorado will face Always a Brave (Bradley) in their Saturday, July 30, semifinal at 3 p.m. Always a Brave defeated Golden Eagles Alumni (Marquette) 89-81 on Saturday. City of Gods and defending champion Overseas Elite will be in the other semifinal at 5 p.m. Both games will air live on ESPN.
AKYAZILI SCORES 10 IN BELGIUM WIN: At the 2016 FIBA U20 European Championships, Colorado sophomore Thomas Akyazili scored 10 points and dished out a team-best four assists as Belgium defeated Hungary, 89-83, in Helsinki Finland.
Belgium (2-4) will close out the competition by playing France (2-4) for 13th place on Sunday at 5 a.m. MT. Akyazili continues to lead Belgium in scoring during the championship at 13.3 points per game. He is second in steals in the entire tournament field at 2.5 per game and is third in free throw percentage (.889).
