AfterShocks lean on Wichita State basketball roots to top Texas Tech, advance in TBT
During every deep run in The Basketball Tournament, a team faces a point where it exhausts its X’s and O’s and must essentially will its way to a win.
That moment came in the fourth quarter for the AfterShocks on Saturday night at Koch Arena in their second-round game against the Air Raiders.
And that’s when it paid off having pedigrees from Wichita State, where defense, rebounding and sharing the ball are valued above all else.
The AfterShocks leaned on their Wichita State roots to pull away from a tied game with a dominant fourth quarter in a 70-60 win over the Air Raiders. The AfterShocks, who have won their last five TBT games at Koch Arena, moved one win closer to the $1 million grand prize and will again play in the Wichita regional championship at 8 p.m. Monday against Bleed Green, a North Texas alumni team that defeated K-State’s Purple & Black squad 87-62.
“It comes down to you’ve got to just make plays, be pros and be better than they are,” AfterShocks coach Zach Bush said. “We challenged the guys to get stops. It’s almost an ego thing. This dude is not going to score on me, whether that’s trapping or stepping up and playing great D. The defense picked up and we started playing a little more unselfish and when we’re unselfish, we’re really good.”
It also helps having one of the most potent and clutch scorers in TBT in 2018 WSU grad Conner Frankamp, who scored a team-high 21 points on a tidy 7-of-12 shooting performance. The Wichita native again delivered down the stretch, scoring nine of the AfterShocks’ final 14 points to help pull away for victory.
“I just like that time and I think I always have in my life,” said Frankamp, who scored five points during the Elam Ending. “For some reason, I’ve just always enjoyed those moments. I think I’m fine missing that shot and I’m confident enough to take it, so I just enjoy those moments quite a bit.”
But Frankamp was in position to put the game away only because of the momentum-swinging shots hit by other 2018 WSU graduates — Darral Willis (16 points, seven rebounds off the bench) and Rashard Kelly (five points, five rebounds) — early in the fourth quarter.
With the Air Raiders leading 49-47, the AfterShocks opened the fourth quarter scoring three points on three straight possessions: an old-fashioned three-point play by Willis on a put-back followed by a trailing triple from the aptly-named Machine Gun Willis, then a Kelly corner three for a 56-51 lead.
The back-to-back three-pointers provided an even bigger boost than usual for the AfterShocks, which had missed 22 of their 28 attempts beyond the arc before that swing.
The energy transferred to the defensive end, where the AfterShocks held the Air Raiders to just four points in a 10-possession span that included four turnovers. Coupled with the bizarre decision by the Air Raiders to intentionally foul Frankamp under the 4-minute mark, which triggered the Elam Ending and sent a superb foul shooter to the line, the AfterShocks were able to crack open a 61-53 advantage when the target score was set at 69.
After combining for 64 points in a 90-point outburst by the Air Raiders in the first round, the dynamic duo of Davion Warren and Shawndre Jones needed 31 shots to produce 39 points against the AfterShocks’ defense. The Texas Tech alumni finished shooting 41.7% from the field and committed 14 turnovers, as they could only muster 13 points in 15 fourth-quarter possessions.
“You see a lot of teams play 1-on-1 basketball and you may have really great 1-on-1 players, but it’s going to be hard to continue to score like that over the course of a game,” Bush said. “Anybody who’s played basketball knows it’s a lot more fun when everybody is touching it, even if you’re not scoring it.
“It’s hard for some guys because they play big roles overseas and then you come back here and sacrifice some of your game. It’s hard not to be emotional about that, but it’s easy when guys like Conner are unselfish and that’s one of the biggest reasons why we continue to win in this.”
The best example of the AfterShocks’ change in defensive intensity came just before the Elam Ending when Jones crossed halfcourt and looked to come off a high ball screen.
The diminutive scorer excels when he’s able to turn the corner and look to attack off the screen. But this time, the AfterShocks were prepared and James Dickey, a 6-foot-10 newcomer from UNC Greensboro, jumped out to double-team Jones with Samajae Haynes-Jones. Jones had to retreat backward and was forced to give the ball up to Zach Smith, a reserve who was not used to having the ball in his hands.
The Air Raiders had a brief 3-on-2 advantage when Smith caught the ball in the middle of the floor, but his inexperience as the trigger man showed when he stared down his target and Frankamp was able to swoop across the court to steal the bounce-pass and force a third straight turnover.
Armed with an 8-point advantage entering the Elam Ending, the AfterShocks gave the Air Raiders no chance at a comeback by scoring on four of five possessions to end the game with a dunk from Dickey, who finished with seven points, 10 rebounds and two blocks.
The AfterShocks will look for their second straight regional championship on Monday, but this time with the added incentive of hosting a quarterfinal game at Koch Arena on Wednesday with a victory. The Wichita region was the first in TBT history to host a quarterfinal game, which is typically played in Dayton.
“This is a call out to all Shocker fans: we need you guys there on Monday night,” Bush said. “It’s hard to win when these seats aren’t filled. You guys give us such an advantage. We’re going with the yellow out for the game, so let’s fill this whole place with yellow.”
