photo by: The Basketball Tournament

The Mass Street TBT team celebrates beating Florida TNT on Monday, July 22, 2024, in Wichita.

As difficult as Mass Street made its second-round matchup in the Basketball Tournament look for much of Monday night, it made the Elam Ending look just as easy.

Lagerald Vick hit a pair of 3-pointers and Sam Cunliffe added one more, all in a row. Vick’s second was the game-winner as the Kansas alumni team took down Florida TNT 76-59 at Charles Koch Arena.

Mass Street allowed a whopping 15 offensive rebounds and went 7-for-15 from the free-throw line. It had seemingly no answer for former UCF forward Keith Clanton, who scored 12 points and grabbed 10 boards, outside of a few successful post double-teams. But Florida TNT shot poorly as a team (34.3% from the field, 26.7% from deep), and Vick posted a game-high 19 points on 7-for-13 shooting to lead the KU alumni to the victory.

It was a group effort, particularly because TNT was able to slow down Frank Mason III and hold him to 3-for-12 shooting. Dedric Lawson had a 13-point, 11-rebound double-double of his own, Billy Preston made it to double figures for the second straight game, and Cunliffe and Jamari Traylor each chipped in eight efficient points off the bench.

Samuel Daniel, Michael Forrest and Christopher Warren all had at least 10 points for Florida TNT, which didn’t lead in the second half but never fell too far behind — until it was summarily dismissed in the Elam Ending.

Despite its activity on the offensive glass, as Mass Street struggled to clean up opponents’ shots for the second game in the row, Florida TNT didn’t score for the first two and a half minutes, and in the meantime Kevin Young had five points and two rebounds early as part of a 7-0 lead.

TNT made just one of its first 15 shots before back-to-back 3-pointers by Forrest late in the first quarter. Travis Washington traveled with 35 seconds left in the period, Clanton scored inside for Florida TNT and Mass Street found itself on the receiving end of an 11-1 run and trailing 14-12 to close the quarter. The KU alumni’s top three scorers from Saturday night, Mason, Preston and Lawson, had combined for one field goal.

Clanton continued to trouble Preston and Lawson in the post, but Young found Mason for an open 3 on the break that gave Mass Street a one-point lead and forced an immediate timeout.

The teams went back and forth down the stretch in the first half, with the KU alumni boosted by the outside shooting of Vick. Cunliffe provided five key points, with Mason splitting a pair of defenders to find him for a corner 3.

In a key sequence, the teams traded three-point plays in the dying moments. Daniel drove in for a layup and completed the and-1 opportunity, then with less than a second left, Preston drained a baseline jumper through a foul and made his own free throw to set the score at 36-30 in Mass Street’s favor entering the half.

The KU alumni looked scattered early in the third quarter, and Florida TNT went on an 8-0 run, capped off when Christopher Warren was able to drive past Young for a lay-in. That tied the game at 40 apiece.

Florida TNT never jumped ahead, though. After a timeout, Preston hit a stepback 3 to halt the momentum, then drained a fadeaway on his team’s next possession.

Mass Street had a seven-point advantage but gave up a key 3-pointer to Quincy Ford at the conclusion of the third quarter, bringing Florida TNT within two possessions to open the final period with the Elam Ending looming.

Mass Street went into that ending with an eight-point lead, in part because of a highlight-reel play a minute beforehand that saw Mason lead Lawson with a bounce pass, before Lawson lobbed an alley-oop to Traylor for a slam. Lawson hit a 3-pointer of his own soon after, but Clanton responded with a putback to make it 67-59 ahead of the eight-point Elam Ending, which the KU alumni resolved quickly.

They have reached the third round of the tournament — the same point at which they lost last year — and will face Team Colorado, a CU alumni team that stunned the top-seeded host Aftershocks, on Wednesday night.

Box score

photo by: The Basketball Tournament

Mass Street’s Lagerald Vick celebrates after hitting the winning shot against Florida TNT on Monday, July 22, 2024, in Wichita.

photo by: The Basketball Tournament

Mass Street’s Lagerald Vick faces off against Florida TNT’s Quincy Ford during the game on Monday, July 22, 2024, in Wichita.

photo by: The Basketball Tournament

Mass Street’s Travis Washington drives to the hoop against Florida TNT on Monday, July 22, 2024, in Wichita.

photo by: The Basketball Tournament

Mass Street’s, from left, Billy Preston, Sam Cunliffe and Chandler Lawson celebrate on the bench against Florida TNT on Monday, July 22, 2024, in Wichita.

photo by: The Basketball Tournament

Mass Street’s Frank Mason shoots over Florida TNT’s Christopher Warren on Monday, July 22, 2024, in Wichita.

photo by: The Basketball Tournament

Mass Street coach Sherron Collins speaks to his players during the game against Florida TNT on Monday, July 22, 2024, in Wichita.

photo by: The Basketball Tournament

Mass Street’s Billy Preston faces off against Florida TNT’s Quincy Ford on Monday, July 22, 2024, in Wichita.

photo by: The Basketball Tournament

Mass Street’s Kevin Young gestures during a game against Florida TNT on Monday, July 22, 2024, in Wichita.