Turnovers doom AfterShocks in first TBT loss in a game at Wichita State since 2019

A home-court advantage like the one at Koch Arena can mask a lot of mistakes, but not as many as the AfterShocks made on Tuesday night.

It seemed like it was going to be impossible to silence a record crowd of 7,202 fans, but 20 turnovers by the Wichita State alumni team did just that in what became a 76-53 rout by Team Heartfire.

This summer saw the AfterShocks record their third straight appearance in The Basketball Tournament quarterfinals and extend their winning streak to 10 games inside the Roundhouse. But even in the three wins last week, the team never felt good about the way it played on offense.

The players needed to snap out of that funk to hang with an experienced and talented team like Heartfire. Instead, the AfterShocks committed 15 more turnovers and were outscored 19-2 in points off turnovers to see their home winning streak snapped in a blowout loss.

“We just didn’t play well in any of the games, to be honest with you,” AfterShocks star Conner Frankamp said. “We never shot the ball well.”

It was as if the AfterShocks were playing turnover bingo, committing giveaways in just about every variety.

Charge? Check.

Lost dribble? Did that.

Offensive foul away from the ball? Got it.

Bad pass? Pick what kind: The AfterShocks gave it away passing too hard, passing too soft, passing too erratically.

The most costly stretch came in the final 90 seconds before halftime when the AfterShocks were still very much in the game, trailing 32-25. The home team had multiple chances to cut into the deficit, but instead committed a string of four turnovers, including a back-breaker when the AfterShocks came up with a steal but immediately gave the ball right back on a throw-ahead pass into traffic.

“It’s just deflating,” AfterShocks head coach Zach Bush said. “Especially when you start to go on a run and make a shot and get a stop, then you run in transition and we had some three-on-ones and we couldn’t even get a look out of that. We ended up throwing it away out of bounds or a lot of them were live-ball turnovers, which are just killers.”

Three more turnovers in the first three minutes of the third quarter allowed Heartfire to balloon their lead to 17 points.

To the AfterShocks and the crowd’s credit, the home side didn’t relent until the end. The AfterShocks rallied to trim the deficit to 59-47 with 7:09 remaining in the fourth quarter, but with the crowd roaring, Heartfire calmly solved the full-court press and Craig Sword laid the ball in for a layup.

When the AfterShocks again whittled the deficit to 12 points, Heartfire answered right back with a cold-blooded 3-pointer by Marcus Hall.

“These fans were amazing,” said Hall, one of TBT’s all-time leading scorers who finished with 13 points on Tuesday. “I kept looking around for empty seats. That’s amazing in the summer time to get that type of crowd in here and play at this level. We loved it and embraced it.”

For whatever reason, the AfterShocks’ group of pro players who are considered strong shooters overseas could never find their rhythm from outside at Koch Arena. The AfterShocks finished their four-game run this summer shooting a paltry 23.2% on 3-pointers (23 of 99).

The bizarre shooting phenomenon even trickled into the shot of Frankamp, the pure sharpshooter from Wichita who had been the team’s best player the last two summers. The Elam Ending star made just 11 of 34 shots (32.4%) and 5 of 23 3-pointers (21.7%) in four games.

Wichita State fans do it again, break TBT attendance record for Tuesday’s AfterShocks game

The AfterShocks knew their own mistakes had cost them a cost of even competing on Tuesday, but they also acknowledged Heartfire was a team up for the challenge and a worthy victor. Tevin Mack scored a game-high 17 points for Heartfire, while Raphiae Putney also added 13 points to help advance the team to the TBT semifinals in Philadelphia on Aug. 2.

“Obviously, we wish we could have got to the Final Four, but this tournament is super hard,” WSU alum Markis McDuffie said. “These teams stack up and get some great players and they came out hungry. We’ve got to keep holding our own. I think being in this arena and playing in front of these fans gives us a chance to win every time we go out there.”

Every loss each summer always brings up the question: Do the AfterShocks want to keep going?

Playing in the summer tournament is a time commitment for the players, who otherwise would be recovering from their pro seasons overseas and enjoying time with their families.

The early temperature seemed favorable for the WSU alumni team to continue its pursuit of the $1 million grand prize.

“Yeah, I think we do (want to keep going),” Frankamp said. “We’ve been really close the last few years, so we’re right there. We’re obviously very thankful for the fan support and hopefully we can continue to do this.”

In due time, Bush will go back to the drawing board with TBT and WSU to figure out new ways to keep the AfterShocks fresh and exciting. He’ll take a look at tapping into the talent pool of new pros with Wichita State ties and continue to try to come up with new ways to put the AfterShocks in the best position to win.

Winning is always the most fun part, but the relationships with the former Shockers is what keep them coming back to the Roundhouse each July.

“It kind of makes me emotional sometimes thinking about it because in life, you typically don’t get to spend time like this with (teammates) who mean so much to you,” Bush said. “You usually have a four-to-five year window. My best man at my wedding is a teammate who I met here. So spending that time together with these guys is really special. The basketball part is incredible and trying to win money is a lot of fun, but the relationship aspect and spending time with these guys is what I enjoy the most.”