With three Ohio State alumni in the game, it was Trevor Thompson and the Red Scare that took down C.J. Jackson and Andrew Dakich’s Big X squad 77-68.
Thompson finished the game with 12 points, 10 of which came in the first half, while shooting 5 of 6 from the field and hitting both of his three-point attempts. He also added seven rebounds in his 17 minutes of play.
On the other side, both Jackson and Dakich struggled to get much going, with Jackson hitting just 2 of his 8 shot attempts for seven points, while also bringing in four rebounds and dishing out a pair of assists. Dakich played 15 minutes and went scoreless without a single shot attempt, adding just an assist, a steal and three turnovers.
The Red Scare started to show life late in the first quarter, when a 10-0 run gave them a 15-10 lead. But Big X responded with 14-3 and 7-0 runs in the second to ultimately take a 38-33 lead at halftime. The second quarter spurt was led mostly by former Wisconsin guard Trevon Hughes, who scored 15 points in the frame on 6-of-7 shooting.
After a back-and-forth third quarter led to the Big X lead being just two, 57-55, the Red Scare began to take over. After another Hughes three gave Big X a 62-60 lead, Red Scare went on a 14-0 run to go up 12 and come within one point of the Elam Ending score of 75.
A missed free throw by Trey Landers kept the game alive, and Big X responded with a pair of threes to shorten the deficit, but Ryan Mikesell hit a three for the final nail in the coffin.
Overall in the fourth quarter, Red Scare outscored Big X 22-11 despite hitting only 35.7 percent (5 of 14) of their shots thanks to hitting 8 of 13 from the free-throw line and keeping Big X off the line entirely for the final frame.
For the game, Big X actually outshot Red Scare from the field 43.1 percent to 38.7 percent, but Red Scare benefitted from more the charity stripe, hitting 15 of 22 attempts from the free-throw line compared to just 7 of 11 from Big X.
Both teams were impressive from behind the arc all game, with Big X hitting 11 of 26 (42.3 percent) from three, while Red Scare buried 14 of their 34 attempts (41.2) from deep.
Hughes led Big X with 20 points on 8-of-15 shooting, while Red Scare was led by 15 points from Darrell Davis, with four Red Scare members finishing with 12 or more points.
The Red Scare, which is made up of primarily Dayton alumni, will be going up against the winner of the matchup between top-seeded Carmen’s Crew, Ohio State’s main alumni team, and No. 16 House of ‘Paign, a team of mostly Illinois alumni.
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