WICHITA — JHX Hoops beat the AfterShocks on Monday night at Charles Koch Arena, but you might not have known it from looking at the official The Basketball Tournament bracket in the tunnel beyond the Kansas alumni’s basket.
The former Jayhawks never had the chance to slap their name next to La Familia’s in the alumni bracket final because shortly after the conclusion of their 64-59 victory, a fight broke out involving members of the two teams.
“We were supposed to put the bracket on the board and we couldn’t even do the bracket on the board,” JHX Hoops general manager Stephanie Temple said in a brief interview postgame.
The game had already been tense, to the point that it featured nine total ejections as a result of a skirmish between JHX and AfterShocks players, and then an additional double-technical situation later on.
All that tension erupted in the wake of Frank Mason III’s game-winning 3-pointer that consigned the defending TBT champions to elimination. Multiple videos captured at the game show that while JHX’s Jacob Hanna was waving goodbye to the fans at Charles Koch Arena, the AfterShocks’ Marcus Keene shoved him from the side, attracting the attention of JHX’s Zeke Mayo, in turn drawing in the AfterShocks’ Corey Washington and setting off a rash of hostilities between the two teams. (Keene later posted on X that he “put (Hanna) on his back.”)
At one point, JHX Hoops’ Tyshawn Taylor was seeing pulling Billy Preston into the tunnel and out of the chaos. Mayo and teammate Carlton Bragg Jr. did a lap around the court, with Mayo blowing kisses to the crowd.
“It’s not ideal and it’s unfortunate because it’s supposed to be a fun tournament,” Temple said.
When the dust settled, a TBT employee declared that there would be no postgame press conference, then TBT personnel shooed media members who regularly cover JHX Hoops away from the tunnel outside of the team’s locker room.
Because of TBT’s media approach, information was scarce in the aftermath of the game. Temple said police were involved but that she didn’t think there were any arrests, and there were certainly none on the JHX side.
Hanna was seen getting treatment for a cut on his head: “It didn’t look good, but I think he’s going to be OK,” Temple said. The Washburn product had 15 points and six rebounds in the victory.
Temple said she would have speak with TBT on Tuesday about what took place.
“We will have just a conversation about the whole incident,” she said, “and I guess we’ll go from there.”
She said she would wait for TBT to determine if anyone will be suspended in advance of JHX’s game against Kentucky alumni team La Familia, which is set for 6 p.m. on Wednesday in Lexington, Kentucky.
“It better not be (anyone on our team),” Temple said. “Because that is not our fault.”
