Blue Collar U won the million dollar prize after Montell McRae dunked them. :39
The former Buffalo basketball stars made sure to finish the job this year after Blue Collar U's run in The Basketball Tournament ended one game shy of the final.
Blue Collar U was on top from the beginning, leading by as many as 22 points in the first quarter, and went on to win the title 89-67.
Blue Collar U won $1 million in a contest. StarsCJ Massinburg, Nick Perkins and Wes Clark will earn $100,000 each, fellow starterBlake Hamilton will earn $85,000, and the rest of the players and coaches will earn between $15,000 and $60,000. The teams can split the prize money according to their needs.
Clark said it was a tough game. It's amazing that we got this win on top of the million dollars.
It took a lot of work. We all understood the seriousness of the situation. We all wanted to go back and compete. We wanted to finish the job because we left some things out there.
Team 23 defeated Blue Collar U in the semifinals last season, despite Clark's injury, and went on to win the title. It was the class of the tournament with Clark back in the fold. He led the team in scoring and hit the game-winning shot in the semifinals against Red Scare, but five other players led the team in scoring.
Each quarter had a different leading scorer. Perkins had 19 points, while Massinburg had 18 points, and Clark had 17 points.
Clark said a lot of players on the team have more to prove. We want to compete with the other guys, ex- NBA players, guys playing at the highest level in Europe. We can play at that level if we want to compete and show the world what we can do. To excel against them is something else.
Blue Collar U dominated from start to finish because of the presence of former Buffalo and current Alabama coachNate Oats.
Perkins scored the first two points of the game and Blue Collar U never looked back. Clark hit three straight 3s to push Blue Collar U's lead to 13 with three minutes remaining in the first quarter. Clark had 14 points in the first quarter and Blue Collar U was up 25-13 at the half.
After turning over the ball five times in the first quarter, Americana forAutism began to take care of the ball. Blue Collar U's offense came back to life after cutting the deficit to nine points. In the second quarter, Bearden had eight points in a row and 10 in a row. Blue Collar took a 45-31 lead into the break, with the lead growing to as many as 16 points.
Blue Collar U responded with an -8 run over the next minute to push the lead to 18 points after a pair ofNigel Johnson 3-pointers in the third quarter. Perkins took control on the offensive end when Clark went to the locker room. He had 10 points in the third quarter. Massinburg scored five points in a row to help Blue Collar U's lead to 22 points.
Americana for Autism was able to get the lead down to 11 on a number of occasions, but it couldn't get any closer. Massinburg continued his stellar play in the final period, scoring seven straight Blue Collar U points, including a step back jumper, a 3-pointer and a layup in traffic, to give it some breathing room entering the Elam Ending.
The victims of the May shooting at a Buffalo supermarket were the focus of Blue Collar U's dedication. Ten players wore a victim's name on the back of their jerseys. They put the jerseys on the floor and prayed for the victims after each victory.
We have been more involved in the city. We were able to shine a lot on something devastating to the city because of this. Clark said there was nothing more important. It's close to us. They all say how excited they are when we return. Everybody knows that we're all in this together, and that's what they give you.
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