We’ve got a winner-take-all situation inside Historical Memorial Coliseum today. La Familia will take on Davis Steel for a chance at $2 million.
Davis Steel is led by Gabe York (19.5 PPG), and La Familia will be led by Archie Goodwin (26.7 PPG).
TBT has been full of story lines and this game is no different. La Familia vs. its old sponsor (Davis Steel, a Kentucky ran company), La Familia vs. the team that knocked them out last year (Eberlein Drive), and Archie Goodwin vs. his old team.
Each of those storylines adds another layer to an already massive matchup. La Familia has a chance to make a statement against its former sponsor while earning redemption after last year’s tournament exit at the hands of Eberlein Drive, who now is known as Davis Steel. Meanwhile, Archie Goodwin gets the opportunity to face the team he once called home as he looks to help La Familia become TBT Champions.
Starting Lineups:
La Familia: Andrew Harrison, Darryl Morsell, Archie Goodwin, James Mainor-Bell, and Willie Cauley-Stein.
Davis Steel: Anthony Clemmons, Gabe York, Pedro Bradshaw, Terry Taylor, and Nate Watson.
Into the game:
Who else but Gabe York to get things off for Davis Steel. La Familia will need to contain him if they want a chance to win this one today.
An early time out was needed for La Familia after Davis Steel got off to a 10-2 start. La Familia started off shooting 1-8 FG.
Following the timeout, things started to get chippy. Sean McNeil and Gabe York were jawing back and forth as La Familia tried to get any momentum they could. La Familia was able to make some moves towards the end of the first quarter, but Davis Steel maintained a 17-9 lead into the second quarter.
The struggles continued into the second quarter for La Familia, making mistake after mistake. It seemed like they were playing not to lose rather than to win. A 7-1 start by Davis Steel was keeping the crowd out of it.
That was until La Familia was able to put together their first run of the night. On the back of a rowdy Historical Coliseum, La Familia went on a 14-6 run to bring them within striking distance.
Despite La Familia outscoring Davis Steel 17-15 in the second quarter, Davis Steel took a slight lead into the half. Davis Steel was led by Terry Taylor in scoring with 11 points, and La Familia was led by Archie Goodwin with 9 points.
Halftime: La Familia 26, Davis Steel 32
The second half was back and forth. La Familia had multiple chances to take the lead, as they got to the free throw line multiple times but failed to convert. La Familia started off the half shooting 1-6 from the charity strike and a combined 6/15 on the night.
Free throw shooting and rebounding was the difference maker in this one so far. At the 2:35 mark in the 3rd quarter, Davis steel was out-rebounding La Familia 35-22 and was also shooting a perfect 6-6 from the free throw line.
Davis Steel started to run away with this one. They jumped out to a 16-point lead at one point. La Familia’s chances were looking slim to none by this point.
An ugly third quarter by La Familia has them down 40-52 after being outscored 20-14. A comeback will be needed if La Familia wants to come away with $2 million.
Things got chippy to start the fourth quarter. Both teams’ benches had to be held back following an out-of-bounds challenge by head coach Jon Hood.
What else would you expect with money and a trophy on the line?
Not to sound like a broken record, but the difference maker continued to be the same thing — rebounding and free throws. Heading into the final minutes Steel was +17 in rebounding and shooting 93% from the free throw line compared to La Familia’s 52%.
An even fourth quarter brought us to the Elam Ending with Davis Steel leading 59-47. Target score was then set to 67.
Can La Familia pull off the comeback?
La Familia started to make things interesting as they got off 6-2 start. HMC was on fire.
That fun didn’t last for long as Terrell Brown hit the Elam Ending game-winner to give Davis Steel the 67-59 win.
And just like that, the Davis Steel is your 2026 TBT Champion.
Archie Goodwin and Willie Cauley-Stein made the All-Tournament Team despite falling short in the championship.
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