Utah Jazz alums: Jeremy Evans, Eberlein Drive drop The Jimmer
By Ryan Aston
Former Utah Jazz forward Jeremy Evans and Eberlein Drive won their TBT semifinal bout with The Jimmer, former Jazzman Jack Cooley and Team Fredette.
Thursday night marked an important occasion for a handful of popular former Utah Jazz players. In semifinal competition at The Basketball Tournament (TBT), Jeremy Evans and Eberlein Drive took on Jack Cooley and Jimmer Fredette‘s squad with the chance to vie for the tournament’s $2 million prize at stake.
In the end, Evans’ crew outlasted a hard-charging Team Fredette to capture an 80-76 upset win. It was well-earned victory; a hot-shooting Jimmer nearly brought his team back from a 15-point deficit with the kind of scoring outburst that has made him the tourney’s standout offensive star.
After failing to get loose in the first half, Fredette keyed a 13-2 fourth-quarter run to level the game at 67. The Jimmer was responsible for 11 of those 13 points and finished the game with 24 points on a solid 8-of-14 shooting.
However, when the Elam Ending went into effect and the target score was set at 80, he was shut out by Eberlein Drive.
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On the contest’s final play, with Team Fredette trailing by just two, an Evans lay-up attempt was broken up, but the Jazz alum and former Dunk Contest champion was nonetheless able to find James Michael McAdoo for a game-winning slam.
Donald Sloan, a veteran of 218 NBA games and five teams, paced Eberlein with 20 points.
Now, the Fraser, Michigan-based team will advance to the winner-take-all title game where they’ll square off with two-time defending TBT MVP Kyle Fogg and Overseas Elite. The game will tip-off at 7 PM MT on Friday from The Fieldhouse at Morgan State University.
If they can pull off another upset, they’ll complete the improbable journey from being labeled the “lost cause of TBT” by SI in 2014 to capturing a tournament championship.
Joining Evans in the title bid will be two other players with Jazz ties — Lou Amundson, who appeared in one game with Utah way back in 2007, and former Salt Lake City Stars sharpshooter Taylor Braun.