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Malik Benlevi, Tim Quarterman play in ‘The Basketball Tournament’ on national television

By Travis Jaudon/For the Prep Sports Report | July 18, 2021

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Two former Savannah prep basketball stars at rival high schools took to the court together on Saturday, July 17 in Charleston, West Virginia in a nationally televised game. Malik Benlevi (Jenkins) and Tim Quarterman (Johnson) played with the Georgia Kingz in the 8th annual edition of The Basketball Tournament (TBT).


The game was broadcasted on ESPN2 and the Kingz fell to Team 23 by a score of 91-64, ending their hopes at winning the $1M prize awarded to the last squad standing.


Benlevi, who played collegiately at Georgia State after winning the 2015 GHSA state championship under head coach Bakari Bryant at Jenkins, finished the contest with 17 points on 6-of-10 shooting (4-6 3pt) to go with three assists.

 

 

 

Before playing at LSU for three seasons, Quarterman was the main-man for head coach Utaff Gordon and the 2013 state championship Johnson team. The lanky guard had a rough shooting evening, but managed to contribute in other ways. He totaled team-highs with six rebounds and five assists to go with his six points (2-11 shooting).


The 64 teams selected to participate in the single-elimination tournament compete in one of four regions (Columbus, OH, Charleston, WV, Wichita, KS, or Peoria, IL) before advancing to a neutral site for the championship rounds. 


In years past, former Savannah High star Chris Cokley has shined at the tournament, playing with Marshall’s alumni team, “Herd That.”


All TBT games conclude with an ever-popular concept known as the “Elam Ending.”


Designed to preserve a more natural end of game finish, the Elam Ending calls for the game clock to be shut off at the first dead ball under four minutes in the fourth quarter or second half. 


A target score is then established by adding eight points to the leading team’s score. For example, if the score is 80-72, the two teams will play until someone reaches 88. 


With no game clock to worry about, trailing teams are allowed to focus on getting stops and buckets, rather than intentionally fouling. On Saturday in the Team Georgia Kingz versus Team 23 matchup, the Elam Ending began with the Kingz trailing 83-57.


Benlevi, the MVP of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament his senior year at GSU, has played abroad in years past and played last season in the Utah Jazz organization, averaging 6.1 points and 3.7 rebounds per game. As a senior at HVJ, Benlevi was a Class 3A first-team All-State (AJC) selection after averaging 16.7 points, 6.2 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game. 


Quarterman was a starter his junior year at LSU, averaged 11.2 points per game in his junior season at LSU before declaring for the 2016 NBA Draft. He signed with the Portland Trail Blazers after going undrafted and playing with the Charlotte Hornets’ Summer League team. During the 2016-2017 season, he was assigned to the Windy City Bulls and Long Island nets of the G League while on the Trail Blazers’ roster. 

 

He went on to spend time with the Houston Rockets during the 2018-2019 NBA season. Quarterman most recently played for the Sioux Fall Skyforce during the 2019-2020 season.


Follow Travis Jaudon on Twitter/Instagram @JaudonSports. Email him at travisLjaudon@gmail.com.

 

 

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The "Coach" Karl DeMasi has been teaching and coaching for the past 35 years on all levels of academia and athletics. One of his hobbies has been writing, announcing and talking about sports. DeMasi has been involved in the Savannah Area sports scene since 1995, and he created the high school magazine "The Prep Sports Report" in 2000. In 2010, the "Coach" started broadcasting The Karl DeMasi Sports Report. He's still going strong, broadcasting on Facebook live and Twitter live every Saturday morning. You gotta love it!


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