The Nasty Nati squad was looking to keep the ball rolling after knocking off Zip Em Up on Saturday in a high fashioned crosstown shootout rivalry. This time just a couple months early, after Jacob Evans buried a dagger three to send the Nasty Nati squad to the regional final’s vs The Program For Autism.
Nasty Nati would get off to a hot start where they led 16-7, forcing an early timeout from Dwayne Morton, following a Jarron Cumberland made three. Nasti Nati would shoot 70% from the floor in the opening minutes, while Program for Autism on the other hand, shot just 22%. Nasti Nati would extend their lead to 12 after Jacob Evans found a wide-open Mamoudou Diarra for an easy dunk with 2 minutes remaining in the first quarter.
Nasty Nati would build a huge 25-15 lead after shooting 56% from the field in the first 9 minutes, while Program for Autism on the other hand struggled to get any offense going, shooting just 29% from the field. However, That would change for The Program for Autism to start the 2nd quarter after a 9-2 run that cut Nasty Nati’s early lead to single digits, trailing 27-24 with 6:13 remaining.
As things would start to get chippy towards the end of the first half, Nasty Nati would hold on and take a 36-28 lead to the break. Jarron Cumberland led all scorers with 14 points, as the Bearcats shot 53% from the floor in the first 18 minutes of play. After the first 9 minutes of play, Nasty Nati really showed they wanted to push the tempo out of the gates early, despite settling down in the second quarter, you’d wonder how they would come out to start the second half. Nasty Nati ended the first half with a huge defensive stand after missing a huge 2 on 1 opportunity to end the half.
Nasty Nati would come out and set the tone early to start the second half after Jarron Cumberland converted on a huge three-point play to give Nasty Nati their largest lead of the game, 47-33 with 5:00 remaining in the 3rd quarter. However, Program For Autism just couldn’t find a way to get the offense going after finding themselves in an early hole. Nasty Nati would keep their foot on the gas and take a huge 55-42 lead heading to the fourth quarter, despite shooting just 9-of-18 from the foul line.
Nasty Nati would start the fourth quarter on a 11-4 run following four quick points from Jarron Cumberland that gave Nasty Nati a 66-46 lead, which was their largest lead of the game. Nasty Nati continued to get stops, as they held Program for Autism without a field goal for the nearly 6 minutes prior to the elam ending. Nasty Nati, as they continued to dominate on and above the rim after Marquez Letcher-Ellis recorded his 5th block of the game seconds before the elam ending.
Nasty Nati wasted no time tonight, as they trailed 3-2 at the start, but never looked back from there after dominating 76-51. Nasty Nati looked nasty on both ends of the floor, outrebounding Program for Autism 45-33, while 8-5 in terms of blocks, seven of those from Marquez Letcher-Ellis. It just seemed like Nasty Nati was living rent free around the rim, and made it impossible for Program for Autism to get any offense going here tonight ending their TBT run.
Jarron Cumberland continued to make his case for TBT MVP leading all scorers with 26 points, on 8-of=13 shooting, while grabbing 8 rebounds in the process. “I come in with a mindset, that I am not going to be stopped. They turned the switch on telling me “I’m not like that. Y’all got to guard me then,” said Jarron Cumberland.
Jacob Evans finished with 23 points on 8-of-20 shooting, including the game winning three. “They didn’t want Deshaun Morman to hit the final shot and get that $1,000 because he had his Pumas on, which is messed up,” said Evans. “I mean I’ll take it, I got no problem, I have never seen a shot I haven’t liked.”
The Bearcats were locked in on the defensive end as Marquez Letcher-Ellis finished with six blocks per the stats, but fairly certain it was seven. However, the Nasty Nati squad preached their defense after dominating the region’s number 1 seed in Program For Autism. “You see our Jerseys, Nasty Nati,” said Jarron Cumberland.
The Nasty Nati squad will now have some time to rest up, after playing with a short rotation through the first three games, due to guys like Tre Scott and Keith Williams being unavailable. “Next week we may have a new piece or too, so stay tuned,” said Kevin Johnson.
Nasty Nati will now face off against the winner of the Dayton Regional next Monday, July 31st at 7 pm at UD Arena.
