TBT Photo
La Familia survived a close call to advance to the Sweet Sixteen of The Basketball Tournament on Sunday at Memorial Coliseum.
Archie Goodwin hit a layup in the lane, enabling La Familia to eclipse the Elam Ending target score of 79, giving the hosts an 80-76 triumph over War Ready. The Auburn alumni trailed by 14 in the first half, but rallied to give La Familia a scare in a game that featured seven technical fouls.
“It was an ugly game, and we need those tests, because at some point, we have to be able to show, like, ‘OK, we can win easy games. We can (win) gritty games. We can (win) shootouts,” he said. “We have to be able to show it all. And we did that tonight.”
La Familia (2-0) will take on Eberlein Drive, the No. 2 seed in the Lexington Regional, at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Memorial Coliseum. Eberlein Drive, one of two teams from the tournament debut in 2014, defeated Tampa Pickup Basketball 86-68 in the first game of a doubleheader on Sunday.
Goodwin led La Familia with 16 points, six assists and four rebounds. Doron Lamb, Kerem Kanter, Khalil Whitney followed Goodwin with 10 points each.
Aaron and Andrew Harrison combined for 15 points, each hit a clutch 3-pointer in the second half. Aaron Harrison’s deep 3-pointer iced War Ready’s 14-2 run that pulled the guests to within 56-55 in the third frame. Andrew’s trey sparked a 7-0 La Familia run after War Ready’s opening bucket in the fourth quarter made the score 64-62.
Former Eastern Kentucky University and Auburn guard Wendell Green Jr. led all scorers with 20 points.
