FINAL: La Familia survives with 80-76 win over War Ready, advances to TBT Sweet 16
The Auburn alums gave La Familia a scare, but not enough to knock them out of The Basketball Tournament.
On Sunday afternoon in Memorial Coliseum, La Famila snuck past War Ready by a final score of 80-76 to advance to the TBT Sweet 16. The team of mostly former Wildcats nearly gave up control of the game in the third quarter, but found enough energy to get over the finish line. La Familia took a 71-66 lead into the Elam Ending and reached the target score of 79 points before War Ready.
Four different La Familia players scored in double-figures, led by 16 points, six assists, and four rebounds from Archie Goodwin. Kahlil Whitney, Doron Lamb, and Kerem Kanter all finished with 10 points each as La Familia shot 45.8 percent from the field as a team. Despite a poor clip from the free-throw line (18-34), the UK alums were able to hold War Ready to under 40 percent shooting.
La Familia was a couple of missed open threes by War Ready from losing this game in the Elam Ending, but Goodwin came up clutch down the stretch, scoring the final four points after the score was tied at 76-76.
With Sunday’s win, La Familia is now 2-0 in TBT and will take the floor again on Tuesday against Eberlein Drive. Tipoff is set for 6:00 p.m. ET back inside Memorial Coliseum and will be broadcast on FS2 with a spot in the quarterfinals on the line.
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Much like Friday’s game against Stroh’s Squad, it was Goodwin and Whitney leading the charge out of the gate with DJ Burns serving as the ultimate hype man. La Familia made a late push near the end of the first quarter to take a 26-18 lead into the second. The physicality ramped up from there on both sides as technical fouls were being dished out like candy. That trend appeared to favor War Ready, which stuck with the Kentucky alums up through halftime.
La Familia led 44-36 at the break, Whitney on top with 10 points, followed by eight points and four rebounds from Kanter. Four different War Ready players were up to six points by the half before Wendell Green Jr. got rolling to start the third quarter. Seven quick points from him helped make up a 10-0 run for the Auburn alums, which trimmed its deficit to as few as one point multiple times during the third period. Several missed free throws from La Familia kept them from blowing the game wide open.
Going into the fourth quarter, La Familia was holding onto a 64-60 lead. A dozen missed free throws by the former ‘Cats allowed War Ready to stay alive. But La Familia would make a run to start the final period, taking a 72-61 lead and forcing War Ready into a timeout thanks to a crowd-rocking dunk from Cauley-Stein.
La Familia had plenty of room for error down the stretch and nearly collapsed in the final possessions of the Elam Ending, but Goodwin saved the day in the end.
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