Charter Stars move on in 2018 TCAC Tourney

Prologue
Its opening night of the 2018 TCAC Tournament.  All 3 divisions playing tonight in the 1st game of the tourney.  So with nothing else scheduled locally, let's make up for an earlier venue that I didn't get a chance to visit.  Its the 2 seed Charter Stars hosting 7 seed Hope Academy.  3 man officiating crew was a bit of a surprise for a TCAC game.  Only limited concessions available for this varsity only affair so I resisted all temptation.

Number of Teams I've Seen: 145 (139 games, 89 days, 49 buildings, 25 online)

Beverage Ticker: 1064.1 ounces (11630 Calories)

• Pepsi: 304.5 ounces (3800 calories)
• Coke: 209.8 ounces (2500 calories) 
• Dr. Pepper: 48 ounces (600 calories)
• Sprite Zero: 20 ounces (0 calories) 
• Sprite: 188.9 ounces (2240 calories) 
• 7 Up: 36 ounces (420 calories)
• Red Gatorade: 140 ounces (980 calories)  
• Red Powerade: 40 ounces (260 calories) 
• A&W Root Beer: 36 ounces (510 calories) 
• Mug Root Beer: 12 ounces (160 calories) 
• Barq's Root Beer: 12 ounces (160 calories)

Food Ticker:

• Hot Dogs: 27
• Walking Tacos: 7
• Pizza: 21
• Pulled Pork Sandwich: 1
• Chipotle: 1 (thanks to Bethel staff)

Game Time:
All Charter Stars early in this one.  Top post Taye Carter with a pair of offensive boards leading to 2 free throws  and a putback.  Noah Hanson adds a pair of 3s and a hoop to end a 18-1 run.  26-6 Charter Stars at the 9:40 mark.  Then soph Caleb Holien puts the Hope offense on his back.  He hits a free throw, 2 3s and adds another bucket.  That cuts the margin to 28-18 just outside the 6 minute mark.  Carter counters with 2 more hoops and another putback and the lead grows to 36-20 at the 4:35 mark.  Holien then working inside with a jump hook and a turnaround jumper in the lane for a 3 point play.  Roger Martinez adds a 3 just before the half to cut the margin to 8.  40-32 Charter Stars at the break.  Holien with 21 of those and 3 triples.  Carter with 12.

Its Martinez again from deep and a long 3 from Holien and the lead is down to 2.  Martinez with the nice slip on the BLOB for a layup and Holien from deep again.  43 all with 14:42 to play as Hope wipes away a 20 point deficit.  Carter replies with bullies his way for 2 and his block leads to a Hanson free throw as the Stars go up 7.  Holien with 2 more bombs from the deep beyond to give him 7 for the game.  53-49 Charter Stars inside 11 minutes left.  But Holien gets limited touches after that.  Charter Stars grow with lead to 62-51.  Hope has a couple more 3s in them but not from Holien.  Carter answers that with a couple of free throws, a bucket and another block that leads to a Brett McNeal hoop.  70-59 Charter Stars with 3:40 left.  Holien banks in an NBA 3 and then a tough contested 3 with 1:06 left.  That pulls Hope within 4 with 1:06 left.  Charter Stars would throw the inbound away but Hope on their inbound would throw it right back.  That leads to 2 Carter free throws on another offensive rebound and puts out the last gasp of hope.  Charter Stars win 76-68.

Post Game
For Hope Academy, Caleb Holien goes off for 9 3s and 39 points.  He had all 18 of his 2nd half points on 6 of those 9 triples.  Only a sophomore, he's in his 3rd year on varsity.  He's grown and now plays almost all 5 positions as the primary option.  Fun to see his significant improvement.  Roger Martinez with 2 3s to also reach double digits with 11 points.

Charter Stars get 22 points from their star forward Taye Carter.  He was too much inside with his strength to score plus contesting shots.  Solid outing from Ezekiel Olakunie with 14 points.  Brett McNeal adds 13, Noah Hanson 11.  The Stars did struggle in a major way from the 3 point line though.  But their size with Carter and soph Akpevwe Avwunuma give them a difference on the front line.

Both teams will play Friday night in the semifinals (consolation for Hope).  They get the teams from the 3 vs 6 game which was Prairie Seeds hosting Community of Peace.