HOLT, Mich. – Led by the Michigan State duo of Coen Carr and Cam Ward, Team Motorcars was undefeated in Moneyball Pro-Am games heading into their game with one-loss Team Tri-Star Trust on Tuesday night.

Now both teams are tied in the Moneyball Pro-Am standings after a 110-96 Tri-Star Trust victory behind 32 points from Spartan point guard Jeremy Fears and a strong performance from Michigan State center Carson Cooper who scored 25 points.

Carr did not go quietly. The Michigan State junior put on a show for fans with a wide array of jaw dropping dunks that only he can throw down. He also knocked down several jumpers and delivered several blocked shots in a 39-point performance for Team Motorcars.

It was not, however, enough to prevent a loss to a Team Tri-Star Trust ballclub that has been steadily building momentum since Fears made his debut with team one week ago. With Fears as its lead guard and Cooper anchoring the interior and providing rim protection, Team Tri-Star Trust is suddenly looking like a potential contender for a Pro-Am Championship.

And it certainly didn’t hurt that Team Tri-Star Trust to get some help from former Dayton star Devin Oliver, who on more than one occasion did just enough defensively to prevent Carr from getting to the basket with zero resistance.

At age 33, Oliver is not the same athlete he was when he starred at Dayton after a standout high school career at Kalamazoo Central. He has, however, played the better part of the last decade professionally and knows how to position his body to make it tougher to score even in a Pro-Am setting where defense is occasional at best.

Team Motorcars also missed the presence of their point guard Drew Lowder (Cleveland State) as a complement to Carr. Without Lowder on the floor, Team Motorcars wasn’t as dangerous a shooting team.

One of the best parts of the match-up between Team Motorcars and Team Tri-Star Trust were the times when Cam Ward challenged Carson Cooper in space on the perimeter. Ward is a talented freshman with great upside the athleticism and skill to challenge slower-footed big men on the perimeter off the dribble. Cooper, however, takes a lot of pride in his ability to defend away from the basket, and he didn’t concede anything to Ward in space away from the basket. Those instances provide a good reminder of the value that Cooper brings to the floor defensively.

Cooper more than held his own when Ward challenged him in space with the dribble. The freshman did, however, have one instance in which he was able to effectively drive against his veteran teammate. In that instance, Cooper was whistled for a foul.

Cooper didn’t exclusively defend Ward in this game, but he defended the freshman enough to account for a drop-off in scoring average. Ward scored 18 points against Team Tri-Star Trust. He came into the game averaging just under 28 points per game.

Ward is going to make a big impact as a freshman in his role as a back-up four behind Jaxon Kohler. And while he hasn’t shot a lot of threes during Moneyball Pro-Am games, the threes that Ward does attempt look good mechanically.  

Teng vs. Tre Fort

Michigan State teammates Kur Teng and Tre Fort rarely matched up against each other defensively when Team SPS and Team Snipes faced each other in the first game of the evening at Holt High School on Tuesday. But seeing the two Spartan shooting guards play on opposing teams was intriguing, nonetheless.

Fort had 26 points for Team Snipes in a 91-73 victory. That point total was less than half of what the Samford transfer scored in either of last week’s Moneyball Pro-Am games in which he followed up a 53-point performance on Tuesday with a 58-point showing on Thursday Night.

Fort, nonetheless, had a solid night for Team Snipes. The same can be said for Teng, who totaled 19 points in the loss. Both Teng and Fort made three 3-pointers apiece in the game.

Teng ranks third among Pro-Am participants in scoring average (28.0) through five games. Fort, meanwhile, is the second-leading scorer for the event, averaging 39.4.

Kohler, Ugochukwu have quiet night

Jaxon Kohler, Divine Ugochukwu and their Team Faygo teammates kept pace of the two teams ahead of them in the Moneyball Pro-Am standings with a 92-91 victory over Team Case Credit Union.

With the win, Team Faygo moved to 3-2 overall in pro-am play.

Both Kohler and Ugochukwu reached double figures in scoring, netting 12 and 11 points respectively in the win, but each was well below their scoring average in Moneyball Pro-Am games this summer.

Lansing Community College sophomore Zander Woodruff led Team Faygo in scoring with 23 points. Great Lakes Christian senior Jocorian Freeman also scored in double figures with 13 points.

Kohler leads Team Faygo in scoring average (25.2) through five games. Ugochukwu is second in scoring (17.5) for Team Faygo.