Celtics Excellence in Tournaments Continues

Celtics Crossover Gaming took the 61-54 victory over top seed Pacers Gaming in Day 2 of THE TURN, powered by AT&T. With the win, Celtics Crossover will advance to play 76ers GC in the next round Saturday. That will serve as a rematch of THE TIPOFF final, one in which Philadelphia overcame the Celtics to win the opening tournament.

Celtics Crossover holds a 1-4 regular season record while Pacers Gaming is undefeated at 4-0. You wouldn’t have gotten that impression while watching the first quarter. These teams traded baskets with sharp offensive execution from both sides. Wolf got off to a fast start with seven points for Pacers Gaming. Mel East had eight points in the first stanza, including a three-pointer with less than one second remaining. That tied the game 16-16 after one period.

Celtics Crossover Gaming posted a 10-2 run to open the second quarter, but Pacers Gaming worked their way back after calling a much-needed timeout to regather. Ramo, center for the Pacers, made a layup at the buzzer to cut the Celtics’ lead to 31-29 at halftime. Mel East of Celtics Crossover Gaming led all scorers in the first half with 13 points, while Ramo of Pacers Gaming had eight points and six rebounds for the Pacers.

Things remained competitive in the second half, as the largest lead was only five points in favor of Pacers Gaming a few minutes into the fourth quarter. That didn’t last long, as oFAB eventually completed an old fashioned three-point play to tie the game 52-52 with two minutes left in regulation. After these teams traded empty possessions, Bulleyy finally knocked down a jumper to put Celtics Crossover Gaming in front 54-52 with 45 seconds left. The Celtics got a quick stop, and oFAB made a pair of free throws to push the lead to 56-52 with 17 seconds left.

Following a timeout, ProFusion stole the inbound pass and threw it down on the other side. That essentially put the game away, as Celtics Crossover ultimately won 61-54.

Celtics Crossover Gaming’s top scorer, oFAB, was averaging almost 22 points in the regular season. He had 14 in this one, but his 12 assists gave his team a huge boost. He was awarded Intel Player of the Game with that double-double. ProFusion led the way with 21 points for Celtics Crossover, while Mel East had 13 points thanks to a hot start.

Swizurk had 16 points for Pacers Gaming, but shot 0-of-4 from distance down the stretch. Despite the losing effort, Ramo had a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds to go along with six assists.