Rob Gray has been as good as anybody in this year’s version of The Basketball Tournament. It was only fitting that the former Houston Cougar standout had the ball in his hands with a spot in the TBT championship game on the line.
Leading 74-76 with a target score of 78 in the Elam Ending, Gray crossed his defender over, drove to his left, stopped and hit a game-winning jumper to lead Forever Coogs to the TBT title game.
Gray finished the contest with 18 points on 6-of-13 shooting from the field and added three assists to lead his team to a thrilling victory and one step closer to the $1 million prize.
Here are the top plays from Forever Coogs’ semifinal win over Eberlein Drive:
Trailing 5-3 early on in the game, Melvin Frazier Jr. came up with a big block and Forever Coogs got out in transition. Gray led the break and found former Houston Cougar Justin Goram, who scored with some power.
Holding onto a narrow lead late in the first half, Gray and Tashawn Thomas ran a perfect pick-and-roll, which resulted in a thunderous one-handed slam for Thomas.
Gray has been a star throughout this year’s TBT, and a big part of his game is his outside shooting. Leading 52-44 with just over 3 minutes remaining in the third quarter, Gray received an outlet pass, took one dribble and drained a deep 3-pointer to give Forever Coogs a double-digit lead.
Eberlein Drive came storming back and closed the gap late in the fourth quarter as former Washington standout Terrell Brown pulled up for a short jumper, which swished through the hoop to make it a two-point game.
With the victory, Forever Coogs will advance to the TBT championship game to play the winner of La Familia (Kentucky alumni) and Carmen’s Crew (Ohio State alumni), which is currently underway on FS1.
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