Round one went LaFamilia’s way, but one game wasn’t enough. We got part two tonight in Freedom Hall.
LaFamilia was without Marcus Lee and Archie Goodwin once again tonight, but after an injury scare last game, Willie Cauley-Stein will give it a go.
For The Ville, they were without Ray Spalding and Angel Nunez, but had Montrezl Harrell who is coming off a record night in the ‘Big 3’ where he scored a record-setting 42 points. Will he have a similar night and keep The Ville alive?
Starting Lineups:
La Familia: Andrew Harrison, Darryl Morsell, James Mainor-Bell, Chris Coffey, and Khalil Whitney.
The Ville: David Johnson, Chris Jones, Trey Lewis, Jae Withers, and Montrezl Harrell.
Into the game:
Offense wasn’t hard to find to start this one. James Mainor-Bell shined early with two quick threes, giving the Kentucky alumni confidence early.
With that being said, I would be doing a disservice to Big Blue Nation if I failed to mention the Chris Coffey put-back.
It was a fun start.
The Ville kept things close despite the hot start for La Familia. The hot shooting didn’t last for long for both sides. Both teams shot near thirty percent in the first quarter, with La Familia taking the slight lead heading into the second quarter despite the worse shooting effort.
Montrezl Harrell made his presence known early in the second quarter, tying it up immediately. He scored The Ville’s first twelve points of the quarter, and La Familia simply had no answer for him.
To go with having no answer for the big man, they also couldn’t hit a shot…that ended up being a recipe for disaster as one could have guessed.
The Ville, or should I say Montrezl Harrell (16 points), completely dominated the entire quarter, outscoring La Familia 24-7 and giving them a 36-22 lead going into the half.
HALFTIME: The Ville 36, La Familia 22
Nothing changed early in the second half for La Familia, and they look defeated early. This led to dumb fouls, starting with an official review on a hard foul tied to Andrew Harrison, and then a couple plays later a technical was assessed to Darryl Morsell.
The first points scored by La Familia came at the 6:51 mark in the 3rd quarter.
Something that you don’t see very often, Russ Smith racked up 3 fouls in 37 seconds, a little over halfway through the quarter, with the third one resulting in a flagrant-one. La Familia was unable to make any momentum out of it, leading to a 57-39 deficit heading into the final quarter.
La Familia was outscored 45-24 in the second and third quarter combined.
Same ole, same ole took place in the fourth quarter. Montrezl put an exclamation mark on his big night for the Ville the Kentucky alumni had no answer for him, especially when Willie Cauley-Stein exited the court.
He (Harrell) finished with 35 points on 14-for-16 shooting from the field as he completely dominated La Familia’s front court all night long, leading to The Ville winning the paint battle 38-18.
As if this one could get any worse, it turned into a dunk party late for The Ville as they continued to pile it on top of La Familia.
Then this happened…
It’s safe to say that Kentucky fans will want to forget this game ever happened. Hopefully this La Familia team either forgets it as well, or decides to take it personal for game three.
Final: The Ville 82, La Familia 62
We will have a winner-take-all game in Lexington on Wednesday, July 22nd. Loser has their TBT run and the winner takes the series by advancing on.
Big Blue Nation, buy your tickets NOW and be LOUD!
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