Everything you need to know about the opening-round TBT win for the AfterShocks

After a No. 1 seed lost in the opening round of The Basketball Tournament on Friday, the AfterShocks had no interest in accepting the same fate inside the Roundhouse.

It took the Wichita State alumni team less than six minutes to build a double-digit lead on its overmatched foe, Midtown Prestige, and cruised from there in an 86-71 win at Koch Arena on Saturday afternoon.

For the fifth straight time, the AfterShocks won their opening-round game and advanced to Monday’s 8 p.m. regional semifinal at Koch Arena, where they will play Team Colorado.

It wasn’t always pretty, but the AfterShocks improved to 11-1 on their home court under the coaching staff of Zach Bush, Garrett Stutz and J.R. Simon.

“It’s always fun playing back in Koch and reliving some of those memories,” said former Shocker Trey Wade, who had seven points and five rebounds. “We just want to play the Shocker way and give these fans something to be excited about.”

While the majority of the players on the AfterShocks compete in some of the best leagues in the world, Midtown Prestige featured mostly players with limited professional experience. As much as the scrappy underdog team assembled by Wichita native Tyler O’Quinn tried, effort alone wasn’t enough to overcome that talent gap.

A total of 16 offensive rebounds by Midtown Prestige and strong performances from Devon Andrews (game-high 22 points) and former WSU player Gus Okafor (19 points, nine rebounds) never allowed the AfterShocks to truly pull away.

The home team was never in serious danger of falling like Cincinnati’s top-seeded Nasty Nati, but Saturday was far from a crisp performance by the AfterShocks, the only team in the TBT field with three consecutive regional championships.

“It was a weird game,” Bush said afterward. “At times, we looked really good, and then there were four-minute segments where it was like, ‘What is happening?’ It’s hard when you get up big early, you’re naturally going to think, ‘Let’s just try to get this over with.’ But we have to fight that urge and play solid basketball and not let yourself be lazy.”

Help on that front is on the way, as Rashard Kelly, a likely starter and important glue guy who missed Saturday’s opener to attend a family wedding, is expected to arrive in Wichita on Sunday and play in Monday’s game.

Until then, the AfterShocks are willing to chalk up the lackadaisical finish to playing with a big lead early.

After leading 27-14 after the first quarter, the AfterShocks pushed their lead to 17 points on a Darral Willis tip-in and two straight lay-ins from Memphis guest star Jeremiah Martin. A rout seemed imminent as halftime neared when Martin stripped another ball-handler and Wade finished a fast break with a dunk for a 48-27 lead with 2:48 remaining.

But a sloppy close combined with consistent effort from Midtown Prestige saw the opponent close the gap to 50-35 by halftime.

“There were a couple of stretches out there where things got really sloppy, there late in the second quarter and at the end of the game,” said Conner Frankamp, who had 10 points and four assists. “Obviously, that’s going to happen sometimes with us just getting together and this being our first competitive 5-on-5 game of the summer. We’ll tighten those things up and try to be better for our next game.”

The yo-yo effort from the AfterShocks continued in the second half, as a Markis McDuffie (team-high 18 points) triple and two straight Jordan Parks buckets extended the lead to 68-44 with 3:13 left in the third quarter.

But the half-court offense bogged down and outside shots stopped falling, as Midtown Prestige closed the gap to 70-53 by the end of the third quarter. The road team crept to within 72-58 before the AfterShocks rallied with a McDuffie-to-Parks alley-oop and a breakaway one-handed jam by McDuffie for a 76-58 lead.

“We were getting back to the feel of what it’s like to play with one another,” Bush said. “But we have to fight that tendency to play lazy basketball when you’re up. This is a single-elimination tournament and a bad stretch like that can cost you.”

With the target score set at 86 and the AfterShocks entering the Elam Ending with a 17-point lead, there were some nervy moments when another dry spell hit and Midtown Prestige had a 3-pointer in the air that would have cut the deficit to eight.

But the shot missed and the AfterShocks breathed a sigh of relief when Willis canned a jumper. Not long after, Caleb Walker ended the game with an alley-oop finish of his own — while wearing Puma shoes to earn a bonus from the tournament sponsor.

“That was a really cool moment,” Walker said. “I loved it. It’s a fun way to end the game and to be able to do it in Puma shoes too.”