La Familia takes down The Nawf 81-64, advances to third round of TBT
Two wins down, four more to go.
On Sunday afternoon in Rupp Arena, two-seeded La Familia shook off a slow start to beat six-seed The Nawf, 81-64, in the second round of The Basketball Tournament’s Lexington Regional. With the win, La Famila moves on to Tuesday’s third round showdown with Herd That, a Marshall alumni team.
The group of former Kentucky Wildcats were led by Kerem Kanter (the younger brother of Enes Kanter and the lone non-UK alum on the squad), who dropped 26 points on 10-12 shooting to go along with nine rebounds. Eric Bledsoe added 16 points, nine rebounds, and five assists while Nate Sestina contributed 15 points on four made triples. Andrew Harrison rounded out the double-digit scorers with 11 points. Willie Cauley-Stein chipped in eight points, seven rebounds, and plenty of blocks.
Even Daniel Orton was getting in on the action down the stretch, hyping up the crowd as “Go Big Blue” chants rained down from the fans. Kanter earned himself an extra $1,000 for making the game-winning shot, as well.
La Familia came out of the gates slow, trailing by as many as six points early in the first quarter before recovering late in the second half. The group of former Wildcats went into the intermission down 34-31 as Kanter led all scorers with 19 points (7-9 FG) and five rebounds. Bledsoe chipped in seven rebounds and three assists in the opening half but had just two points on 1-5 shooting.
But considering La Familia was only 1-11 from deep through the first half (compared to 5-13 for The Nawf), a three-point deficit felt like nothing. And it didn’t take long for the tides to shift once the second half ramped up.
An and-one from Cauley-Stein followed by a triple from Sestina gave La Familia its first lead of the night early into the third period. From there, it was all ‘Cats. A highlight block from Cauley-Stein (someone was foolish enough to try and dunk on him) sparked the crowd as La Familia took a 62-50 lead going into the fourth quarter.
All La Familia had to do from there was reach the Elam Ending with a comfortable lead. Back-to-back threes early in the fourth from Bledsoe and Sestina made that happen. Once we hit a break in the action with under four minutes and the clock went off for good, the former Wildcats held a 73-55 advantage going into the Elam Ending with the target score set for 81.
Cauley-Stein got the Elam Ending rolling with an easy dunk which was quickly followed by a pair of three-pointers from Sestina and Kanter. It was Kanter’s make that allowed La Familia to reach 81 points and advance to the third round. The former Wildcats will play next on Tuesday night on 9:00 p.m. EST inside Rupp Arena against Herd That, the Lexington Regional’s top seed.
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