Herd That Takes Care of Sikh Warriors In 2025 TBT Opener

 By Ben Anderson

    Herd That won its first-round matchup against the Sikh Warriors in the West Virginia Regional of The Basketball Tournament in Charleston Friday night 84-71. 

    Herd That is without Jon Elmore and Tavion Kinsey until further notice due to their NBA Summer League Obligations. For them to be available for Sunday, the Toronto Raptors have to defeat the Sacramento Kings later today, according to Herd That head coach Ot Elmore.

    The absence of its two top stars was apparent in the first half as Herd That struggled offensively, shooting 38% percent from the field, and 29% from behind the arc. 

    “I think the main thing you saw there was these guys are used to playing with Jon (Elmore),” Elmore said. “When you got a point guard like Jon (Elmore), it gets the offense moving. That first half we scored 36 points, we scored 48 points in the second half. A lot of that was JP (Tokoto) and Jacorey (Williams). 

    Herd That was able to pull away with the win with the strong performance from the duo of Tokoto and Williams. Williams finished with a double-double of 29 points, 10 rebounds, and three assists. Tokoto ended the night with 18 points, and seven assists. 

    “JP (Tokoto) sort of took over the ballhandler role for us,” Elmore said. “I think the offense was a lot better in the second half once guys sort of figured out that role.

    Tokoto said that he had prepared to take on the ball handler role for the team leading up to the game.

    “I was trying to get my guys set up,” Tokoto said. “I talked to Ot (Elmore) about having me play at the point guard position. I’ve been a ball handler since I turned pro, but it was usually from the 3. Mentally getting into that mode and knowing that I’m not just a point guard, I’m also JP Tokoto, let me put my body in and get to the rim while setting up my guys.”

    The Sikh Warriors were well prepared in the first half, and showed up with the money ball in the early moments. AJ Basi started 3 for 4 from deep for nine quick points. A triple in transition gave the Sikh Warriors a 13-7 lead with 5:16 remaining in the first quarter. 

    The absence of Jon became even more visible behind the perimeter. Herd That was forced to go inside the paint for most of its sets, trailing 23-21 after the first quarter while only making two 3-pointers in the quarter. 

    “We wanted to trap the guard and make the bigs beat us,” Elmore said. “We didn't do a very good job of that in the first quarter; they were 5 for 10 from the 3. We have to pay more attention to what we’re doing and take care of business.”

    Herd That switched to a 1-3-1 zone and ran most of its tallest lineup to combat the Sikh Warriors perimeter motions and create mismatches in the paint. Herd That had 18 offensive rebounds despite a 7-foot presence from the Sikh Warriors.

    “You can really tell that those guys (Sikh Warriors) really prepared for this game,” Williams said. “The way they started the game, they were flowing on offense, had pressure on us on defense, made us work for every shot. Every shot was tough with contact. Ot (Elmore) was smart; he went big and put me at the 3, had two bigs in, and we just imposed our will on the offensive glass. On defense we started on the top of the ball with JP (Tokoto), he’s big on the ball, we switched when we needed to switch, rotated when we needed to rotate and imposed our will with a bigger lineup.” 

    Williams started to step up in the second quarter for Herd That by finding his rhythm on offense, scoring on a leaning jumper from the paint for his ninth point and a 32-27 lead. Herd That led 36-31 at halftime, led by nine points a piece from the duo of Tokoto and Williams. 

    Separation began in the third quarter as Herd That started to contain Basi. He had 14 points in the first quarter to lead the Sikh Warriors but was held to six after that. The Sikh Warriors had just eight points in the second quarter. 

    Williams took advantage of the mismatches in the third, scoring seven in the period with a monstrous slam in front of the current Marshall men’s basketball team in attendance.

    “We were trying to play out of JP (Tokoto) and let him set up guys and organize everything down the stretch,” Williams said. “We started finding those mismatches, and I was at the 3 a little bit to get the biggest mismatch on the floor. Whoever had the biggest mismatch was who we wanted to find.”

    Herd That expanded its lead to nine points after three frames, 64-55, as the Sikh Warriors started playing sloppy, as it finished the game with 16 turnovers. It gave Herd That 19 points off turnovers at the end of the quarter.

    Once the Elam Ending hit, Herd That led 76-66 and needed a target score of 84 to win, a rule unique to the TBT - time stops, and it becomes a sudden-death race to the final number. 

    An electric slam from Williams set the stage for a game-winning free throw from Tokoto to advance Herd THat to the Regional semifinals against Best Virginia, the West Virginia alumni team who defeated Dubois Dream 72-69 later in the night. 

    “Its a neat thing to have,” Elmore said. “You don’t see it during the year. (Marshall and West Virginia) don’t play each other like they used to, so it’s neat to get to do that for the city and some people a chance to do something fun in the summer.”

    DeAndre Kane was not in attendance for Herd That. The team’s social media account said they do not know where he is at.

    “Jon and Tavion are great, but I feel good about the eight that we’ve got here with us,” Elmore said. “I feel like we’re going to win no matter what. We’d love to have them, but if they win a Summer League championship and then meet us in the third round, that wouldn’t be too bad either.”

    The No. 2 seeded Herd That returns to action tomorrow afternoon at 5 p.m. to take on No. 3 Best Virginia with the winner advancing to the West Virginia Regional finals against the winner of No. 1 Elite Nation and No. 4 Court Street Kings. 

    HERD THAT 21 15 28 12 8 - 83: Tokoto 5-11 8-9 18, Browning 3-7 0-0 8, Munford 3-13 0-0 7, Cooke 4-8 0-0 8, Williams 11-20 7-9 29, WATSON 1-2 0-0 2, Taylor 0-4 2-2 2, McGlynn 3-4 4-6 10. Totals 28-65, 21-26 84.

    SIKH WARRIORS 23 8 23 11 5 - 71: Bajwa 7-17 0-0 19, Toor 6-11 2-4 14, Basi 7-17 0-0 20, Kahlon 0-1 0-0 0, Singh 6-12 0-0 14, Sekhon 1-3 0-0 2, Narwal 0-1 0-0 0, Gahin 0-0 0 0, Sran 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 28-65, 2-4 71

    3-point field goals: Herd That 3-12 (Browning 2-3, Munford 1-7, Watson 0-1, Taylor 0-1) Sikh Warriors 13-31 (Bajwa 5-12, Basi 6-11, Singh 2-6, Sekhon 0-1, Sran 0-1) Rebounds: Herd That 46 (Cooke 11, Williams 10, Mcglynn 5) Sikh Warriors 34 (Singh 7, Toor 6, Bajwa 5, Basi 5).