CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - Pool play ended on Saturday night, as the top two teams from each pool advanced to the Tournament of Champions playoff round. Among those earning the right to continue play were six teams featuring Appalachian State targets.

Oddly enough, none of those teams matched up against one another in the first round. Only two of the six teams survived to play again. Those two were the Atlanta Celtics (Dennis Harris and Gideon Gamble) and North Carolina Gaters (Eladio Espinosa and Will O'Huaregbe).

Those that saw their tournament come to end with an early round loss included the Carolina Raptors (Petey Hausley and Stedman Short), who lost to King of the Court by the final of 74-53; the Florida Rams (Terrance Santil and Kore White), who were defeated by the Westchester Hawks 76-55; the CP3 All-Stars (Justin Johnson and Kevin Powell), who fell to National Christian 76-56; and the Worldwide Renegades (Darius Garrett), who were dropped from the tournament by M33M, 94-74.

The North Carolina Gaters advanced by grabbing a close win over the Squires of Richmond, 78-75. Their win placed them in a second round battle on Sunday morning with Wisconsin Playground Warriors. The Gaters again found themselves in a tight ball game but were unable to overcome the Playground Warriors' tenacious guards. The Gaters had the clear advantage in the post, where they rotated in four players 6-foot-8 and bigger in an attempt to wear down Wisconsin's smaller lineup, one that featured only two players taller than 6-foot-4 (6'6" and 6'7"). However, the guard play was just too much for the Gaters to handle in the end as they fell 67-62.

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