Zoo Crew coach Gilbert Brown said the squad was playing to honor the former and current Pitt players. They wanted to play for Jamel Artis, who got injured against Best Virginia two days prior. They wanted to put on a show for the host of current and former Pitt players in attendance — including NBA players Bub Carrington, Justin Champagnie and Blake Hinson.
All the energy they put in against Happy Valley Hoopers in the The Basketball Tournament Regional Final, they got back from their supporters. Things maybe got a bit too passionate at the end of the first half. So much so, that a barrier was put in place to contain the current Pitt players from getting too excited and impeding on the court at the Petersen Events Center.
“It was a great feeling to have the Petersen [Events] Center like this in the summertime,” Brown said. “I think fans enjoyed it. I'm sure the Pitt basketball team enjoyed it as you can see their reactions to every play. So it was great.”
Wednesday’s matchup between Zoo Crew and Happy Valley Hoopers definitely brought the energy. Penn State and Pitt fans alike traded cheers as the score remained close.
But it was Happy Valley Hoopers who would get the last laugh as Sam Sessoms made the game winning shot for an 85-82 finish. He immediately ran over to rub it in the current Pitt players’ faces on the other end of the court.
Despite the loss, six Zoo Crew players scored in double-figures, led by Nelly Cummings’ 23 points. Ryan Luther and Dustin Sleva each added 12 points, while Nike Sibande rounded out the group with 10 points.
Mike Young was held to just 15 points after averaging 23.5 points in the first two TBT games.
“Me and Mike are really good friends,” Sessoms said. “Me and Mike actually have been hanging out all week I've been up here and it was kind of banter back and forth. We knew Mike was the guy. We put Greg Lee on him to slow him down. …Our game plan was to shut Mike down and if Nike wanted to get off, you got to give up something, can't stop everything.”
Ryan Luther entered the starting lineup in place of Artis and immediately made an impact, leading the Zoo Crew with 11 points throughout the first half. Lamar Patterson heated up in the second quarter going on an 8-0 run to put the Zoo Crew up by 14 points — the largest lead of the first half.
Happy Valley Hoopers trailed throughout the first half, but got within just one point when Curtis Jones sank a 3-pointer. Not to be outdone, Sibande immediately drove down the court for a one-handed dunk that got many Pitt fans on their feet. They’d carry that momentum through the end of the quarter and hold a 39-35 lead heading into halftime.
The game was getting so fiery toward the end of the first half that former Pitt player and current Washington Wizard Bub Carrington was chirping back and forth with Sessoms. When the half officially ended, some of the Happy Valley Hoopers players came toe-to-toe with Carrington, Hinson and some of the current players, including Jaland Lowe. A rope was put up around the to contain them behind the baseline for the remainder of the game.
“When we went over there at halftime, I did it just to get a spark on my team,” Sessoms said. “It’s basketball. We're not fighting on a court. We're not gonna meet up afterwards and fight. I did it just to get my team to go because I knew they would go over there. That's all it was just to find different ways to give us sparks.”
The chirping continued any time Sessoms was down by the baseline. When he fouled Sibande on a dunk, Carrington, Lowe and the rest of the Pitt contingent immediately pointed at Sessoms to poke fun at him.
With 1:41 left in the third quarter, Jones hit a jumper to give the Happy Valley Hoopers their first lead of the second half. Young, who had been quiet for most of the game, responded by muscling his way down for a layup and got fouled on the shot causing the Pitt fans to go crazy.
They broke the rope barrier when Sibande sank a 3-pointer at the end of the third quarter to take a four-point lead. Pitt redshirt freshman Papa Kante fixed it while his teammates continued to heckle the Penn State alumni squad as they trailed, 69-63, heading into the final quarter.
But the Pitt fans were silenced after Dustin Sleva turned the ball over, allowing Jawaun Daniels to score on the fast break and make it 74-73 with just a minute to go until the Elam ending.
When the final score of 85 was set, only two points separated Happy Valley Hoopers from Zoo Crew. Both teams were just one possession away with Zoo Crew trailing, 83-82, but Young missed the winning shot and the Happy Valley Hoopers emerged victorious.
“Go for the win,” Gilbert said of Young’s shot. “We wanted to try to create something more like a drive penetration and kick [out]. …Unfortunately we weren't able to pull it off.”
Key stat: Despite trailing by two points heading into the Elam ending, Happy Valley Hoopers outscored the Zoo Crew, 10-5, in the final minutes of the game.
“The first thing was to get a stop,” Happy Valley Hoopers coach Ross Condon said. “It was their ball, and we got that stop. Then we tied it up. Then [it’s just] first one to eight. Just staying even keel each possession. We saw we needed to win one more possession and we did that.
Quotable: Pitt and Penn State haven’t played each other since 2017, but the seven-year gap didn’t make the rivalry between the two teams any less intense. Unlike when Zoo Crew played Best Virginia, there wasn’t a lot of recent history to pull from. Whether it was for $1 million or for bragging rights both teams were anxious to pull out a win against the other.
“It's interesting because the rivalry games are usually like in college,” Cummings said. “So you're getting a chance to scout the guys. You really know the team. For us, we don't know that much. They didn't know so much. It was just lingering. It's supposed to be a rivalry. So we kind of just played into that. There's no real hatred for any of us. It definitely felt like [a rivalry] so you had to engage in it.”
Up next: Happy Valley Hoopers will take on Eberlein Drive in the Elite Eight with a chance to go to the Final Four on the line. Eberlein is one of TBT’s two remaining teams from its inaugural tournament in 2014.
Abby Schnable: aschnable@post-gazette.com and @AbbySchnable on X
First Published: July 25, 2024, 12:49 a.m.
Updated: July 25, 2024, 9:36 a.m.
