This is how I play tournaments.
I enter a defensive squad.
I play a few rounds.
I then exit and go into data cards and spend my ally points on Bronzium's.
I enjoy the ton of extra shards I get and it's like playing slots.
Then the tournament ends and I get some further rewards.
Even last place gets rewards and player shards for the character and perhaps blueprints for ships will be the same. Unless your extremely lucky and powerful in your tournament shard it's not worth the stress of doing it any other way then to play a few and bail out in my opinion.