TUSCALOOSA ?? The third time was the charm for Reach USA, an eight-man team that includes University of Alabama basketball players Mikhail Torrance and Demetrius Jemison and is touring China to play teams from the Chinese Basketball Association.
After losing two games in a row to Zhe Jiang, the fourth place team in the CBA, Reach USA, 5-2, snapped back Friday with an 85-71 win against Zhe Jiang. Auburn’s Quan Prowell led the win with 24 points, and Bama’s Jemison was the second leading scorer for Reach USA with 12 points. He was 4-9 from the field and 4-6 at the free throw line. His game also included five rebounds, all defensive. Torrance came off the bench to score eight points and led the team with six assists. Lipscomb’s Eddie Ard led the team with 11 rebounds.
The Reach USA team’s tour plays its final game on Saturday, again against Zhe Jiang. Reach USA will have played eight exhibition games within eight days, four each from two CBA teams, most games in a different city each night. Players include Torrance and Jemison from Alabama, LSU’s Garrett Temple, Auburn’s Prowell and Rasheen Barrett, Lipscomb’s Ard, Mississippi State’s Brian Johnson and Paul Stoll from Texas Pan America. In their seven games so far, Jemison has averaged 16.3 points and 8.3 rebounds and Torrance has averaged 14 points and 5.0 assists. Both will be sophomore on the Crimson Tide’s basketball team this fall.
