Nasty Nati and Company began there The Basketball Tournament against the Fort Wayne Champs in the First Round. In what would be a great matchup for Nasty Nati, Nasty Nati and co. would look to move on to the second round of TBT.
Nasty Nati ran out some of the former Bearcat greats Troy Caupain, Jacob Evans, and Octavius Ellis in the starting lineup to give the fans a show. Fort Wayne got off to a quick start though as Fort Wayne led 13-3 quickly after a 13-0 run. Nasty Nati would fight back though, as Nati and co. would get some tremendous defense from Jarron Cumberland, as he had a nasty block to give the Nati some life. Shortly after the home team would fight back to take the lead heading into the half. It was the great play of Coreontae DeBerry and Jacob Evans that led the comeback to give Nasty Nati and the fans that showed up something to cheer for, up 32-30.
Nasty Nati got off to a hot start to begin the second half as Jarron Cumberland got an early six points while allowed them to get rolling. Fort Wayne did not give up though as they fought back and were able to tie the game late heading into the 4th quarter or at least they thought, Jacob Evans drilled a three quarters court shot to end the third quarter and give Nasty Nati a 3-point lead heading into the final quarter.
Nasty Nati and Fort Wayne battled back and forth in the fourth quarter and it came down to the final basket, but Nasty Nati would fall to Fort Wayne by a final score of 71-67. Nasty Nati’s leading scorer was Jacob Evans with 20 who had a phenomenal game, but Nasty Nati could not stop Tayler Persons and his ridiculous range from behind the arc (finished with 28 points, eight rebounds and three assists). Fort Wayne will move on to face the number 1 overall seed Florida TNT on Wednesday.
