The biggest game in the history of The Basketball Tournament did not disappoint.
Former basketball players representing the Louisville Cardinals ( The Ville ) and Kentucky Wildcats ( La Familia ) played in front of a record-breaking TBT crowd of 13,509 at Freedom Hall.
La Familia defeated The Ville, 70-61, to advance to TBT's Final Four in Philadelphia. The winner of the tournament will claim its $1 million grand prize.
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According to La Familia's Nate Sestina , the scuffle stemmed from a disagreement he had with The Ville's Chinanu Onuaku .
"It's just what this game does to people," said Sestina, who scored a game-high 22 points in La Familia's 70-61 victory . "It had been great chatter the whole game, nothing crazy, nothing personal. And then it got personal. Obviously, 'L's down' versus 'L's up,' that's what this game is. He was just like, 'Don't do L's down in here.' I was like, 'All right, L's down. Always.'"
Then — for a brief moment — the situation deescalated.
"My back was turned," Sestina said, " and then he spit in my face."
Russ Smith , The Ville's leading scorer (22 points) in the loss and the only player from the team to take questions in the postgame media room, said he didn't see how the melee began.
"Oh no, no, no. I was being too busy being an ambassador," he said with a laugh.
Andrew Harrison's 3-pointer put La Familia at the target score, and it will advance to the semifinals after a 70-61 win over The Ville.
La Familia will play Carmen's Crew (Ohio State alumni) in the next round on Friday in Philadelphia.
The game clock is shut off in the fourth quarter, and the target score is determined by adding eight points to the leading team's score.
The first team to reach the target score wins.
Target score: 70
Sestina has 22 points and has made six shots from beyond the arc.
La Familia has a 53-36 lead with 1:13 left in the third quarter.
The Ville went on a 15-6 run to close out the first half and cut La Familia's lead to three.
Eric Bledsoe and Willie Cauley-Stein have a combined 17 points.
The Ville's Chinanu Onuaku has eight points and 13 rebounds.
The announced attendance for tonight's game between The Ville and La Familia at Freedom Hall was 13,509.
The previous TBT attendance record was 7,202.
Twelve-time NBA All-Star Chris Paul will be in the crowd for The Ville vs. La Familia tonight.
Paul is a co-owner of TBE Enterprises; which puts on TBT and The Soccer Tournament.
Paul, 39, is heading into his 20th season in the NBA. He recently signed to play for the San Antonio Spurs.
As of 7:45 p.m. Monday, La Familia was a five-point favorite (-115) over The Ville on DraftKings , which set an over-under line of 149.5 points (-115).
The money-line odds were La Familia (-215), The Ville (+165).
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La Familia vs. The Ville will air on FS1.
The La Familia/The Ville game will be livestreamed on the official TBT website , which can be accessed here .
You also can stream FS1 on Fubo, which offers a free trial here .
- Dillon Avare , a Lexington native who played at Louisville from 2014-16, then transferred to Eastern Kentucky for his final two seasons of eligibility. Avare logged five minutes during last year's TBT.
- Chane Behanan , a physical forward from Cincinnati whose time with the Cards (2011-13) came to an abrupt end when he was dismissed from the program due to a failed drug test. Behanan finished second on The Ville in points (13.3) and rebounds (seven) per game last summer.
- Chris Dowe , a Louisville native who starred at Eastern High School before playing at Bellarmine from 2009-13. The 6-foot-2 guard played for The Ville last summer and averaged 7.3 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game.
- Montrezl Harrell , an eight-year NBA vet who was a freshman during U of L's national championship run in 2013. Harrell missed the 2023-24 season while recovering from surgery to repair a torn ACL and a meniscus tear in his right knee.
- David Johnson , a Louisville native whom the Toronto Raptors selected 47th overall in the 2021 NBA Draft after his sophomore year with the Cards. The Trinity High School grad spent the 2023-24 season playing for the Memphis Hustle, the Grizzlies' G League affiliate.
- Chris Jones , who played for the Cards from 2013-15 and torched The Ville for 25 points last summer as a member of the Jackson TN Underdawgs. In May, Jones helped the London Lightning of Ontario win a third consecutive Basketball Super League title and received its Most Valuable Player award.
- Nick Mayo , a four-year starter at EKU from 2015-19 and a four-time member of the All-Ohio Valley Conference first team. The 6-9 forward played for The Ville last summer and won fans over with a thunderous, one-handed dunk worthy of a poster in the team's first-round victory.
- Chinanu Onuaku , a 6-10 center who left U of L for the NBA after the 2015-16 season; during which he was named to the ACC's All-Defensive team as a sophomore. Onuaku spent two years with the Houston Rockets and returns to The Ville after another stint with Santeros de Aguada in Puerto Rico.
- Omar Prewitt , a Mount Sterling native who played at William & Mary from 2013-17 and left as a top-five scorer in program history. The 6-7 wing had 13 points in 16 minutes during The Ville's second-round win last summer.
- Peyton Siva , the point guard who led the Cards to a national title in 2013. This spring, Siva was named to new Louisville head coach Pat Kelsey 's staff as director of player development and alumni relations. A year ago, he amassed 19 points, 12 assists and six steals during TBT.
- Russ Smith , a star of the 2013 national championship team whose No. 2 is hanging in the KFC Yum! Center rafters. The former All-American has been playing in Italy and created limited-edition bottles of his Mr. & Mrs. Bourbon for TBT. He was The Ville's top scorer in two of its three games last summer.
- Derrick Walker , a 6-9 forward who played for Tennessee (2017-19) and Nebraska (2019-23) and as a senior was a second-team All-Big Ten selection. For his collegiate career, Walker averaged 6.2 points and 4.1 rebounds across 139 appearances. He has been playing professionally in Spain.
Reece Gaines , a U of L Athletics Hall of Famer who ranks fourth among the top scorers in program history, has replaced Mark Lieberman as The Ville's head coach. Gaines returned to his alma mater in 2021 as Chris Mack 's director of player development and alumni relations, then shifted into a video operations role under Kenny Payne .
Members of Gaines' staff include Luke Hancock , the Most Outstanding Player of the 2013 Final Four; Keith Oddo , who played for the Cards as a walk-on graduate transfer during the 2019-20 season; Mike Stone , an assistant at Transylvania University; and Terrence Commodore , whose coaching resume includes stints at EKU and Evansville.
Former Kentucky star Tyler Ulis is La Familia's head coach .
Two more former Wildcats, Jon Hood and Sean Woods , are assistant coaches. Jazz Ferguson , a Louisville native who starred at Moore High, also serves as an assistant.
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This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: The Ville vs La Familia score updates: Kentucky vs Louisville TBT game at Freedom Hall
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