By: Josh Goldfine

Davin White waited nine years to win his TBT money. His wait is finally over.

The 41-year-old White, who starred for Team 23 in a heartbreaking loss to Overseas Elite back in 2015, made a driving layup to hit the target score and give Heartfire its first TBT title with a 78-73 victory over Bleed Green.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">DAVIN WHITE FOR $1 MILLION!!!!!!!!!!!!<br><br>HEARTFIRE IS YOUR TBT 2023 CHAMPION!!!!!!!! <a href="https://t.co/2zhqw2L0wA">pic.twitter.com/2zhqw2L0wA</a></p>&mdash; TBT (@thetournament) <a href="https://twitter.com/thetournament/status/1687266283484557312?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 4, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

“Just a lot of emotions going through me right now,” said White. “It felt good going through the net.”

Eric Griffin scored 15 of his team-high 23 points in the first half, and Heartfire held off a late Bleed Green rally to win the $1 million prize. Heartfire exploited its height advantage in the paint, outscoring Bleed Green 36-16. 

Marcus Hall, the all-time TBT scoring champion, chipped in with 10 points for the victors, and Craig Sword added 10 points of his own, including two putbacks during the Elam Ending that helped to preserve the Heartfire lead. 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">TEAM HEARTFIRE JUST SENT THEMSELVES A $1,000,000 <a href="https://twitter.com/Zelle?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Zelle</a> PAYMENT 🤑 🤑 🤑 🤑 <a href="https://t.co/fnyFBBgpCv">pic.twitter.com/fnyFBBgpCv</a></p>&mdash; TBT (@thetournament) <a href="https://twitter.com/thetournament/status/1687267178494513152?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 4, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

“It feels amazing,” said Hall, who took Team Colorado to the title game in 2016 and made another appearance with Team 23 in 2021. “It feels even more amazing because of the people that I did it with. We fought through everything that was thrown at us.”

“These guys have tremendous character,” said Heartfire coach LaPhonso Ellis of his squad, which won four of its six games by five points or fewer.

Kai Huntsberry poured in a team-high 23 points in the losing effort for Bleed Green, which scored the game’s first three points, never led again and fell to 7-2 all-time in TBT.