BASKETBALL

The Ballinteers, a Tennessee alumni team with Chris Lofton as one of its players, dropped their opening round game of The Basketball Tournment (TBT) to The Men of Mackey, 83-74, Friday night in Columbus at the Covelli Center.

A slow starting first half plagued The Ballinteers, falling in as big of a hole as 15 points before going into halftime trailing 39-29.

The Men of Mackey, a Purdue alumni team, had quite the size advantage in the contest and used it to their advantage, forcing the Ballinteers to go zone at times and they’d then make them pay from the outside.

They led throughout the entirety, a 23-11 end of first quarter lead pacing them and allowing them to lead by double-digits nearly the rest of the way.

Chris Lofton finished with 13 points. Lofton struggled to get in rhythm, finishing 5-of-17 from the field and 3-of-13 from the 3-point line. He was active on both ends, adding four rebounds, four assists and a steal. He was the second leading scorer on the team, Josh Selby leading the way with 20 points, Wayne Chism adding 12.

Entering the tournament, the Men of Mackey were the No. 8 seed in the Columbus regional, the Ballinteers the No. 9 seed.

It was the tournament debut for the Ballinteers. The team was formed by former Vol Bobby Maze, reaching out to former players to build the roster. Outside of Lofton and Chism, Tyler Smith, Cameron Tatum, Duke Crews, Josh Fields and Skylar McBee played in the contest. JaJuan Smith was named as a starter, but was unable to play with a hamstring injury.

This is Lofton’s second TBT appearance, playing in the Lexington regional in 2019 for Team KBC. In that tournament, the former Mason County Royal scored 50 points while hitting 17-of-30 shots, including 12-of-24 from 3-point range, dishing out seven assists, grabbing five rebounds and swiping three steals.

The Men of Mackey won in the first round last year before taking a loss in the second round.

They’ll face the winner of Carmen’s Crew, an Ohio State alumni team and Mid-America Unity, a team built by former MAC players. That game ended after press time before a result went final.

MEN OF MACKEY 83, BALLINTEERS 74

BALLINTEERS — 11-18-20-25 — 74

MEN OF MACKEY — 23-16-26-18 — 83

Scoring

Ballinteers (74) — Selby 20, Lofton 13, Chism 12, Fields 8, Smith 7, Tatum 7, Crews 4, Weaver 3

Men of Mackey (83) — Barlow 19, Hummel 13, James 12, Gaines 11, Haas 11, Delaney 6, Boudreaux 5, Nash 4, Jackson 2