BTE avenges their only loss of the season by handing Project X their first loss

Jordan Cannon

In Week 1 of the Summerlin Open League this season, Project X, in their first-ever game in the league, defeated BTE 86-85 in overtime. BTE losing is about as rare as the 2015-16 Warriors losing during that 73-win regular season, so Project X established themselves as legit contenders after one game.

It’s already extremely hard to beat BTE, but beating them twice in one season is nearly impossible, as no one has been able to do it in the past six seasons. Project X had a chance to do it last night, but they fell short by two points, as BTE came away with an 82-80 victory, giving Project X their first loss of the season.

The biggest difference between the two games is the fact that Tony Eackles Jr. was the best player in the first matchup (37 points and 11 rebounds on 15-27 shooting) and was unfortunately not in attendance last night.

With Eackles out of the picture last night, that gave Jordan Cannon the opportunity to be the best player in the game, which he took. Cannon, who had 14 points, eight rebounds and seven steals in the first matchup, had a game-high 34 points on 10-19 shooting from the field, 10-11 from the free-throw line and he added seven rebounds, six assists and three steals.

While not having Eackles in this game significantly impacted the outcome, it’s important to note that BTE were playing without Austin Fox and Allen McFarland, who have combined to average 42.4 points per game this season.

Now six weeks into the season, both of these teams sit at 4-1. They will end up being the top two seeds in the playoffs barring any big upsets over the final three games for either team. That means that a rematch could only come in the championship game, scheduled for March 30. It’s far too early to say that’s what will end up happening, as the Villains and Ball Stars (who played in a 120-118 game last night that the Villains came away with) will propose a big threat in the playoffs. If there is a third game between these two, and both teams are at full strength, it could go down as an all-time classic in the history of the Summerlin Open League.