The Cinderella run of the Happy Valley Hoopers, a team made up of former Penn State basketball players, ended with an 85-71 loss to Eberlein Drive.
Happy Valley led by 13 in the second half, but couldn’t close the deal.
The Happy Valley Hoopers got off to a fast start, leading 20-14 at the first quarter timeout. The team made each of its first four 3-point shots, with three of those coming via Curtis Jones, who already had 11 points by that timeout.
The team kept it up for the rest of the quarter and ended the period up 28-18.
By halftime, the Happy Valley Hoopers led 50-41, with a floater by Sam Sessoms at the buzzer putting a bow on the first half.
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.But Eberlein Drive wouldn’t go away, going on a 12-0 run to cut the deficit to three with 4:46 left in the third quarter. A bucket by Myeron Jones with 3:36 left finally broke the run.
Eberlien Drive then scored the next six points to go up 59-56, making it an 18-2 run.
Penn State cut it to one at the end of the quarter on a buzzer-beating 3 by Jones. But the team was down five by the first stoppage of the last quarter. By the four-minute mark, Happy Valley trailed 76-69. After that, the “Elam Ending” kicked in, with the clock stopping and Eberlein Drive needing eight more points to reach the target score and thus win the game. Coming out of that break, Eberlein Drive scored the first three points. A 3 by Anthony Clemmons made it 83-71 and put Eberlein on the brink. A bucket by Jake Stephens then ended it.
Despite the disappointing ending, this was Happy Valley’s most successful TBT ever. Coming into the tournament, it hadn’t won a game. This year, it won three.
