McCollum, Overseas Elite Take Third Straight TBT Crown

Goshen record-holder scores 13.7 points per game in six-game win streak
BALTIMORE — Twenty-two players have won three consecutive NBA titles since
the league merged with the American Basketball Association in 1976.
Thursday night, seven players claimed the first three-peat in the four-year
history of The Basketball Tournament.
And just like the 1990s Chicago Bulls, who won three straight titles two
separate times with Scottie Pippen at small forward, Overseas Elite had a
player who wore purple in the NAIA in its midst: 2010 Goshen College
alumnus Errick McCollum.
McCollum averaged 13.7 points per game in the tournament, which his team
capped with an 86-83 win over Team Challenge ALS in the final at Coppin
State University. Team Challenge ALS opened a lead that grew as large as 13
points in the first half, but the last of the 14 lead changes went Overseas
Elite’s way with about four minutes remaining.
Tournament MVP Kyle Fogg iced the game at the foul line with 1.6 seconds to
play, and after a final try sailed wide right, Overseas Elite claimed their
third straight title and a $2 million prize.
McCollum, who graduated as Goshen’s leading scorer with 2,789 points,
played 19 minutes in the championship, finishing with two points and two
rebounds. He finished the tournament with 82 points, third-most on the
team, in 27.0 minutes per game, second-most on the team.
He led Overseas Elite with a .520 clip from 3-point range after draining 13
of his 25 tries, finishing the tournament with 24 rebounds, 9 assists, 9
steals and 4 blocks.
Overseas Elite improves to 19-0 all-time in The Basketball Tournament,
winning seven games in their 2015 title run and six in each of the past two
events. The teams have combined to claim $5 million in prize money and
McCollum has scored 277 points, an average of 14.6 per game.
Among the eight teams that reached the quarterfinals, McCollum was the only
player to have played college basketball below the NCAA Division I level.
He graduated with the Maple Leafs’ career records in five categories (2,789
points, 814 free throws, 1,902 field-goal attempts, 236 steals and 96
blocks) and scored 22.8 points per game or better in each of his final
three seasons.
“I’m incredibly proud of ‘E’ and all the success he’s had since
graduation,” said Goshen head coach Neal Young, an assistant during
McCollum’s college career. “He is such a great example of how far being
loyal, working your tail off, and being humble can take you.”
A seven-year pro veteran, McCollum will return to Turkey’s Super League
with Anadolu Efes this season. He has also played in Israel, Greece and
China, setting the latter country’s single-game scoring record with 82
points in a 2015 game. In addition, his career has included a Eurocup MVP
trophy and a stint in the NBA Summer League with the Denver Nuggets in 2014.
The Basketball Tournament, an annual event since 2014, is a single-elimination, 5-on-5 basketball tournament open to any player 18 and
older. Teams were created by general managers and voted on by the public:
60 teams qualified directly into the tournament with 16 reaching regional
“play-in” jamborees.
The NBA has seen three three-peats since its merger: the Chicago Bulls of
1991-93 and 1996-98 had Pippen, a Central Arkansas alumnus who played four
years in the NAIA, hoisting a trophy on basketball’s highest stage. The Los
Angeles Lakers of 2000-02 had Indiana roots in the person of Rick Fox, who
moved from the Bahamas to attend Warsaw High School, some 25 miles from
Goshen. And the first Bulls’ run even had a player with Hoosier college
connections: point guard John Paxson played at Notre Dame.
But Overseas Elite did something none of the NBA teams could do: got their
NAIA and Hoosier connections from the same person.
Goshen College is an affordable, nationally-ranked Christian liberal arts
college in Northern Indiana known for leadership in intercultural and
international education, sustainability and social justice.