These K-State basketball alums want to win $1 million. They’re 1 step closer now
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- Purple Reign edged The Shine 85-84 to advance to Round 2 of the TBT tournament.
- Shaun Williams scored the game-winner, leading all scorers with 21 points.
- The team will play again on Monday night in Round 2
Kansas State fans probably expected such familiar names as Jacob Pullen or Kamau Stokes to lead the Purple Reign on Saturday afternoon.
But it was the youngest and oldest player on the K-State alumni men’s basketball team’s roster that keyed an exciting 85-84 victory over The Shine at Municipal Auditorium — a win that moved the KSU alums into Round 2 of the TBT, one step closer to claiming the tournament’s $1 million prize.
Purple Reign trailed The Shine for the majority of the highly physical game but stayed in it for a storybook finish. The tourney’s purse is winner-take-all — great motivation for players no longer competing in Division I hoops.
“You think it’s a regular game until the game gets going and it’s money on the line,” 38-year-old small forward Dominique Sutton said. “The physicality was expected, but I forgot just how much it is with money on the line.”
Purple Reign will next face JHX Hoops in a Round-of-32 game Monday evening at Municipal Auditorium — the Kansas Jayhawks’ alumni team beat OffDaHook 78-72 on Saturday. Game time for the TBT sunflower showdown is 8 p.m.
The Shine racked up 27 fouls while Purple Reign accrued just 11. Only a few minutes in, Sutton — at K-State from 2007-10, and now playing for Al Ahli Manama of the West Asia Super League — was yelling “play ball” on the court.
“You’re a professional now; you’re not a rookie anymore,” he explained later. “Some things you should know, but at the same time, some guys need that boost and confidence.”
Sutton said mistakes are bound to happen, but staying in the game mentally is crucial. He said without that, the game-winning shot never would have come.
“TBT can be very physical,” said Purple Reign coach Clent Stewart, a KSU guard in the mid-2000s. “We told our guys that going in: You can’t look for fouls; you just have to go out there and play basketball. If they call a foul, great. If not, you’ve got to play through it.”
Shaun Williams, Austin Trice and Sutton were the leading scorers for the Wildcats team on Saturday afternoon, finishing with 21, 20, and 15 points, respectively.
Williams, who played for K-State from 2018-20 before finishing his college career at Cal State Bakersfield, was the youngest player on the court for the Reign. Sutton was the oldest.
“It was really great to see our youngest guy step into a role and play really well,” Stewart said. “He (Williams) came out in the first half and played well. And in the second half, he scored the game-winning shot.”
Almost every player on the Purple Reign’s roster is a K-State alum, though their graduation years range from 2008 to 2025.
“It’s unique when you have guys that are so far apart in when they graduated and when they played at K-State,” Stewart said. “But they come back and it’s a brotherhood and it’s their only chance to rock K-State again.”
Stewart added that it has been fun to watch the older players, such as Sutton, pass down some “tricks of the trade.”
The TBT uses the Elam Ending, which calls for the game clock to be shut off in the fourth quarter. The target score is calculated by taking the leading team’s score and adding eight points.
The Shine led 77-72 with 3 minutes, 43 seconds to go, and the target score was set at 85 points. Purple Reign clawed its way back with a nine-point run but still trailed 84-82 with The Shine in possession.
Then Shine’s Justin Harmon missed a jump shot ... and the ball was in Williams’ hands.
Three points was all Purple Reign needed. And for the first time Saturday afternoon, the largely partisan crowd of purple-clad fans could rejoice.
This story was originally published July 19, 2025 at 4:19 PM with the headline "These K-State basketball alums want to win $1 million. They’re 1 step closer now."
