Sports
Court Street Kings get first-ever TBT win over The Nawf
By: Andrew Bowlby
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CHARLESTON, W. Va. (WOUB) – The 2025 Basketball Tournament opening round kicked off Friday afternoon in Charleston. TBT, an eight-region tournament with a one-million-dollar winner-take all prize pool began its 12th year with a self-proclaimed ‘most competitive field’ ever.
The Court Street Kings, a team in its first year and made up of half Ohio Men’s Basketball alumni, took the court and fought off a fourth quarter rally winning over The Nawf 74-62.
CSK started the game with Ohio alumni Jason Preston, Dwight Wilson III, Ben Vander Plas, Shereef Mitchell and Jaylin Hunter on the court. The Kings later turned to non-Ohio players off the bench but began with faces familiar to Bobcats fans.
That starting five got the Kings off to a quick and balanced start. They pushed the tempo and forced the issue against The Nawf who initially struggled to keep up.
“Something [Preston] and I have been talking about for the past 48 hours is being really aggressive,” Vander Plas said.
CSK showed that aggression from start to finish, and it paid off early.
One play in particular came when Preston fed the ball through a tight window leading to an easy dunk for Vander Plas.
“The whole time,” he said on having flashbacks to playing with Preston at Ohio. “Such a fun guy to play with. Just being out there with him, it’s special.”
The Kings were then met with a response. Lamar Peter scored 11 of the first 16 points for The Nawf, singlehandedly holding his team in the first quarter. After the opening frame, the Court Street Kings held a 20-16 lead.
Starting the second, The Nawf came out more physical and aggressive. However, they were unable to get much going before CSK returned its starters to the court.
Both teams then began to start knocking down shots. They traded triples on a handful of possessions.
The Kings got a chunk of their production from deep off the hands of Keshawn Justice.
An alumnus of the Santa Clara program, Justice finished with the second most points on the team at 14, while also providing seven rebounds. The chemistry between the Kings players was evident and played a significant role in the victory.
“Going into this whole tournament, our biggest thing was staying together, having that chemistry,” said Court Street Kings head coach Mike Cifliku. “We brought in some other guys; they did a phenomenal job jelling in. And then that played a part, especially at the end when things got hectic.”
With a 44-32 lead intact at halftime the team played most of the second half denying The Nawf an opportunity to come back and make the game close.
It was easier said than done as The Nawf began the quarter outscoring CSK 14-8 and getting the trimming the advantage back to within single digits. However, every time The Nawf made a push, the Kings had a counter. Whether it was Preston, Vander Plas or any of their teammates, they never lost full control of the lead.
As the teams traded buckets in the fourth quarter, the clock quickly dwindled down to under four minutes. A critical juncture in a TBT game. All TBT games are played with the Elam Ending. This means that at the first stoppage under four minutes in the fourth a target score is calculated and that becomes the goal.
For Friday’s game, the two played to a target score of 73 (CSK’s 65 points at the stoppage plus eight were used to calculate this number). While once again The Nawf didn’t let CSK pull ahead, after a pair of Justice scores, Vander Plas ended the game on a driving layup advancing the Court Street Kings.
The victory marked the first time an Ohio alumni team earned a victory in the TBT tournament and sets up a second-round matchup on Sunday.
For the opponent, it will be the West Virginia region’s No. 1 seed in Elite Nation. That squad is composed of players. From around the country and holds three all-time wins.
Tip time is set for 3:00 p.m. Sunday at the Charleston Coliseum.