BOZICH | La Familia storms past The Ville 70-61 into TBT semifinals -- in near brawl

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — They won’t award the winner-take-all $1 million prize in The Basketball Tournament until Sunday afternoon in Philadelphia, but a million volts of energy crackled through Freedom Hall Monday night.

Not only did a tournament record 13,509 fans wind their way into every section of the historic venue, they stood for nearly every dribble, change of direction and blocked shot of a game that matched (mostly) former players from Kentucky and Louisville.

For two hours they made July 29 feel like December 29, a mid-summer Dream Game, like Lancaster Gordon going after Jim Master or De’Aaron Fox chasing Donovan Mitchell — with Rick Pitino or Denny Crum or Joe B. Hall barking instructions.

Then, it got so intense it was nearly too intense.

A wonderfully competitive game nearly ended with a totally unnecessary brawl. 

In the end, this game followed the same script as most Kentucky-Louisville basketball games over the last 15 years — a stinging Kentucky win, packed with magical three-point shooting and players barking at each other on the court.

LaFamilia 70, The Ville 61.

Andrew Harrison called “Game” from the right wing with the winner. The former Wildcats celebrated so wildly in front of the Louisville bench that players from both teams screamed at each other and nearly squared off as The Ville left the court.

La Familia forward Nate Sestina said that The Ville's Chinanu Onuaku spit in his face in a scrum near the basket at the north end of Freedom Hall.

"It was like, 'Don't do Ls down in here,' " Sestina said "All right."

"Ls down," Willie Cauley-Stein quickly interrupted.

"Ls down, always," Sestina said. 

"He (Onuaku) walked away and then stepped at me or whatever. My back was turned. He spit in my face, Mr. Onuaku. I'm going to leave it at that. Nothing crazy. He spit at me. That's on him."

A video clip showed Onuaku telling Sestina to stop the Ls down gesture. As Sestina was walking away, Onuaku pushed him in the back. Somebody in the UK group flashed more Ls down in Onuaku's face. LaFamilia guard Aaron Harrison stopped Onuaku from getting to Sestina but Onuaku spit at him as he was being held. Security ran toward the area and separated the players.

Onuaku was not available after the game to answer what Sestina said, but The Ville team manager Jordan Sucher said that was not the story he was told.

Ville guards Russ Smith and David Johnson said they did not see what occurred.

"It's hands down the craziest state for basketball," Smith said. "No state comes close. I was too busy being an ambassador (to see the incident)."

And you thought this was a glorified pick-up game?

In its first appearance in the 11-year tournament, the group of former Kentucky stars advanced to the final four teams of the event this weekend in Philadelphia.

Credit Sestina with 22 points and Cauley-Stein had 20.

La Familia made 12 of 34 shots from distance while The Ville missed 17 of 21. Sestina made 6 of 14 while Cauley-Stein was 3 for 3 in the first half.

"One of the things we tried to do in the first half was allow Willie to shoot and he kind of buried us," Smith said.

Mark Pope’s first Kentucky team drove over from Lexington to watch from a suite. Rajon Rondo took a seat on the UK bench -- and drew several plays. Darrell Griffith, Larry O’Bannon, Josh Heird, Jeff Walz, Jordan Nwora, Malik Williams, Brandon Huntley-Hatfield, Greg and Jeff Brohm, Trey Lewis, Eric Wood and many others represented Louisville.

Need another measure of how serious La Familia took this game?

The players drove from Lexington to Freedom Hall on Sunday for a shootaround practice to get themselves acclimated to the rims and sight lines.

The Ville played uphill the entire evening. LaFamilia jumped ahead 4-0 and never trailed. The Ville spread the ball to every starter for its first five shots — and Montrezl Harrell, Peyton Siva, Onuaku, Johnson and Smith all missed.

In fact, The Ville missed its first seven shots and trailed 16-10 after the first quarter and 30-27 at halftime.

La Familia flexed its dominance in the third quarter, outscoring the home team, 26-11, stretching its lead to 19 points.

La Familia led 62-53 with 3:59 on the clock when coach Tyler Ulis jumped off the bench for a timeout to set the target score at 70. (The TBT features the Elam Ending. Eight points are added to the lead score at the first whistle under 4 minutes.)

The winners got its first basket on a drive by Andrew Harrison. The Ville missed its first eight shots and made two turnovers to start the Elam period.

Onuaku finally gave its first points by making two underhanded free throws. A three-pointer by Smith made it 64-58.

Cauley-Stein put LaFamilia within one possession of the win with a three-point play. Fouled on a shot from distance by Andrew Harrison, Smith made three free throws to put The Ville within 67-61.

Harrison delivered his dagger from the right wing on the next possession. He waved goodbye to the mostly Louisville crowd and then ran toward the north end of the court in front of The Ville bench. His teammates chased him down in celebration. Some Ls downs were flashed.

Truth be told, Sestina and Cauley-Stein flashed them again at the podium in the post-game press conference.

"Emotions ran high," Sestina said. "That's what this game does to people. There had been great chatter the whole game. Nothing crazy. Nothing personal. 

"Then it got personal. Ls down vs. Ls up. That's what this game is."

Smith led Louisville with 22 points.

La Familia advances to the semifinals and a game against Carmen’s Crew, Friday at 9 p.m. in Philadelphia. The TBT finals will be played on the campus of Drexel University at the Daskalakis Athletics Center, which seats 2,532.

Whatever team wins Friday night and Sunday afternoon will split $1 million. But they won’t have an atmosphere like Monday night.