Spit starts brawl following conclusion of La Familia vs. The Ville at Freedom Hall

La Familia is headed to the semifinals of The Basketball Tournament, but they had a tough time getting off the court after beating The Ville.

Soon after the Kentucky alumni team beat the Louisville alumni team 70-61 on Monday night at Freedom Hall, a brawl broke out on the floor after a Cardinal player spit on Nate Sestina. In the postgame press conference, Sestina said that The Ville’s Chinanu Onuaku spit on him after Sestina threw an Ls down sign to the record-breaking crowd.

“Emotions ran high, that’s what this game does to people,” Sestina said postgame. “It had been great chatter the whole game, nothing crazy, nothing personal. And then it got personal, obviously. Ls down verses Ls up, that’s what this game is. (Onuaku) was just like ‘don’t do Ls down in here’ and I was just like ‘All right.’ Ls down always.

“And then he walked away and stepped at me or whatever, I backwards turned, and then he spit in my face. Mr. Onuaku. I’m gonna leave it at that. Nothing crazy, spit at me. That’s on him.“

In the end, Sestina had the last laugh. The former Wildcat finished with a game-high 22 points, shooting 6-14 from long range. He hit five triples alone during a decisive third quarter and also grabbed eight rebounds.

You can watch the brawl unfold below along with Onuaku spitting on Sestina.

We nearly had a full-on brawl on the Freedom Hall floor. pic.twitter.com/snMvcVRVqp

— Zack Geoghegan (@ZGeogheganKSR) July 30, 2024

We’ve got a fight at Freedom Hall pic.twitter.com/MiIdJ6lOMf

— Jack Pilgrim (@JackPilgrimKSR) July 30, 2024

The spit that started it all… https://t.co/XQpCqvEpxp pic.twitter.com/3HgF0yYxgw

— Kinsey Lee (@kinseyleetv) July 30, 2024

Regardless of how the night unfolded after the final buzzer (Andrew Harrison hit the Elam Ending three-pointer, by the way), La Familia is headed to the semifinals set for this Friday in Philadelphia. The former Wildcats will take on Carmen’s Crew (Ohio State alumni team) with a spot in Sunday’s championship on the line.