65°F
weather icon Partly Cloudy

Ted Cruz beats TV host Jimmy Kimmel in Texas charity game

Updated June 17, 2018 - 9:11 pm

HOUSTON — Texas Sen. Ted Cruz has triumphed over late night TV host Jimmy Kimmel in their much-hyped charity basketball game that Kimmel dubbed the Blobfish Basketball Classic.

With each basket worth a single point, Cruz topped Kimmel 11-9 in a two-hour one-on-one match they agreed to abbreviate Saturday at Texas Southern University after neither appeared capable of reaching 15 points and winning by two.

The Houston Chronicle described the matchup as “a slow-motion car-crash of half-court basketball.” Speaking for both men, Kimmel said: “We apologize to the game of basketball.”

The game was born of a joke from Kimmel, who’d said the Republican senator resembled the ocean bottom-dwelling blobfish. Cruz responded by challenging Kimmel to a basketball game.

Two Houston charities are the beneficiaries. Game highlight videos are planned for Kimmel’s ABC program Monday night.

Kimmel, whose family relocated to Las Vegas when he was a kid, graduated from Clark High School and attended UNLV for a year.

Don't miss the big stories. Like us on Facebook.
THE LATEST
Where to catch March Madness in Las Vegas

From theater seating to private rooms, buckets of beers to specialty cocktails, the Las Vegas Valley is offering several ways to watch the men’s NCAA Tournament.