Carmen’s Crew’s Jared Sullinger hits a turnaround jumper in the lane to put the Crew over the top 69-65. Credit: Elizabeth Robertson via TNS
After a four-year gap and nearly an entire roster overhaul since its last championship, Carmen’s Crew has claimed The Basketball Tournament — or TBT — title once again.
Carmen’s Crew, the Ohio State alumni team, defeated Forever Coogs, the University of Houston’s alumni team 69-65 in TBT’s championship game Sunday afternoon.
Former Buckeye forward Jared Sullinger secured victory on a fadeaway jump-shot in the Elam Ending, an alternate ending to a traditional basketball game where the winning team is the first to reach a target score.
The target score is set by adding 8 points to the leading team’s score at the first dead ball under four minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, as opposed to having the highest score at the end of four quarters.
Carmen’s Crew began the Elam Ending up 60-56 and would need 68 points to hit the target score. Sullinger would be the hero for the Buckeye alumni, nailing the jumper to narrowly escape Forever Coogs.
Sullinger finished with 18 points, making him the tournament’s 2024 MVP, according to a Sunday X post from TBT.
Additionally, Sullinger’s performance earned him a spot on the TBT All-Tournament Team, meaning he was one of the top five performers during the tournament.
Center Kaleb Wesson and forward Andre Wesson — siblings and former Buckeye basketball players — followed close behind Sullinger, adding another 15 and 13 points, respectively, to the crew’s scoresheet.
Carmen’s Crew will split the $1 million prize evenly between each of its members and staff, with each of the 16 members taking home $62,500, according to a Sunday article by Eleven Warriors.
This marks the second TBT title for Carmen’s Crew, which won its first in 2019 with a drastically different roster that featured former Buckeye guards Aaron Craft and William Buford. The duo was named to the 2019 All-Tournament Team, with Buford also being named the competition’s MVP.
This title made Carmen’s Crew only the second TBT team to win multiple championships, joining Overseas Elite, a four-time tournament champion between 2015-18.
Jeff Gibbs, the beloved former Otterbein forward and 2021 Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame inductee, was the lone member of both the 2019 and 2024 championship teams. Gibbs made even more history Sunday, turning 44 and becoming the oldest player to win TBT.
