Brandon Wood and Cory Johnson last stepped foot on a court together on Mar. 16, 2011. Eleven years and four months to the day, the former Valparaiso teammates were back on the same team once again.

Wood led The CRU with a game-high 25 points while Johnson added 18 points and six rebounds in an 88-78 loss to the top-seeded Gutter Cats in the first round of The Basketball Tournament.

While the early exit wasn’t what the group of former Valparaiso players had in mind when they came together to play in the winner-take-all $1 million tournament, all involved feel like a foundation has been laid to return in the future.