Montrezl Harrell drops 35 as The Ville evens TBT series against La Familia

It doesn’t get much worse than what happened on Monday night in Freedom Hall. After sneaking out a Game 1 victory on Saturday in Lexington, La Familia failed to show up in Game 2 with a chance to advance in The Basketball Tournament. The Ville overcame an early slow start to dominate the squad made up of Kentucky alums, cruising all the way to an easy 82-62 victory. We now have a 1-1 split series with Game 3 coming back to Memorial Coliseum on Wednesday. It was the Montrezl Harrell show for The Ville. Despite playing in the BIG 3 on Sunday, the big man was unguardable less than 24 hours later. Harrell went for 35 points and eight rebounds on 14-16 shooting. La Familia, which shot just 33.9 percent for the game, lacked the size to keep up. Andrew Harrison led the former ‘Cats with 19 points while Chris Coffey chipped in 14 more. La Familia nearly had as many fouls (18) as it did made field goals (20). That’s not ideal. La Familia started hot, making three of its first five three-pointers after a rough outside shooting performance in Game 1. La Familia jumped out to an 11-9 lead and was up 15-12 at the end of the first quarter thanks to a DeAndre Liggins bucket at the buzzer. The good vibes didn’t last long, though. Once Harrell realized he’s the best player on the floor, The Ville began to take over. The 2020 NBA Sixth Man of the Year began to take over inside. Harrell was up to 18 points (8-9 FG) at halftime. The Ville rattled off a 10-0 run at one point, growing the lead to as many as 16 points before the intermission. Sean McNeil was 0-6 from the field at the break while La Familia as a whole shot 27.6 percent through two quarters. The Ville led convincingly, 36-22, thanks to a 24-7 second quarter run. It didn’t get any better for the UK alums in the third frame, either. While La Familia managed to drop 17 points, The Ville went for 21. Harrell was up to 24 points at this point. Willie Cauley-Stein, who was questionable as of the morning, was on the bench with ice wrapped around his bad ankle. The Ville led 57-39 going into the fourth quarter. It only got uglier from there. The Ville was setting up a highlight shop on both ends of the floor. It was a 74-49 edge for the Louisville alums at the Elam Ending. I think you already know what happened next. We’ll return for a decisive Game 3 on Wednesday in Lexington.