In a world uprooted by the pandemic, the Basketball Tournament attempted to provide fans with a return to normalcy: basketball.
And what is more fundamental to sports fans than coming from behind?
Originally designed to be a team of former Purdue alumni returning to gold and black who turned into a hodgepodge of former Purdue basketball players mixed with familiar Midwestern college players, the Mackey Men entered the Elam Ending behind From Heartfire 77-71, with Heartfire just 8 points from victory, the Mackey Men forced a 14-2 career in the final leg and will advance to the winner in all tournaments in Dayton, Ohio.
While Purdue fans were excited to see hardcore stalwarts like Isaac Haas and recently graduated transfers like Evan Boudreaux, it was former University of Washington base Justin Dentmon who led the Mackey Men late, scoring a tournament with 32 points and hitting a pair of huge 3 is late to overcome the long deficit of the game in which the Mackey Men found themselves.
It was Purdue’s own Isaac Haas who put the finishing touches on the victory, grabbed the lost Dentmon bridge and repositioned it for the magic score of 85 points.
It was a difficult outing for most of the game for the Mackey Men. They struggled to shoot the ball. They had stretches where they seemed to have lost their legs, but a key defensive change put Isaac Haas on Isaiah Austin, the former big man from Baylor, who had been dividing the Mackey Men in the paint game. Haas’s ability to pull him away from the hoop stopped Heartfire’s offense at the end of the game.
Jon Octeus continued his world basketball tour. His energy, defense and swiftness filled the status sheet for the Mackey Men. He struggled to score the ball, but lost balls and shot down some late free throws.
Jacquil Taylor, who spent his senior season at Hofstra, showed off his length and athleticism early with a chase from behind the rear dash block. The great man who was an award-winning recruit for Coach Painter, but who was never able to stay healthy while on Purdue, closed the game, grabbed a big offensive rebound, and put it just before Haas to help establish victory.
Upon entering the tournament, one of Men of Mackey’s greatest strengths was a roster filled with players familiar with each other. They thought they would start quickly, but with Covid’s continuing difficulties, many of the original roster members had to leave the tournament. This led a team to rely on their coach, former Purdue shooter Ryne Smith, to be able to craft some instant chemistry.
For the first game, it worked, barely.
The Mackey Men will now set their sights on another alumni team: the Boeheim Army (Syracuse Alumni).
They will play Tuesday at 4 pm. Just like in all games with The Basketball Tournament, the loser goes home.
