The Ville Defeats Team DRC in TBT Regional Final

This story will be updated.

Squaring off against an upset-minded Team DRC squad, The Ville was able to avoid such a fate and extend their run in The Basketball Tournament, coming out on top with an 83-68 victory on Wednesday night at Freedom Hall.

The Louisville men's basketball alumni team claims TBT's Louisville Regional Championship with the win, and are now one of just eight remaining teams in the 64-team, $1 million winner-take-all tournament. Last year in their inaugural TBT run, The Ville also made it to the regional final but were eliminated.

The victory also sets up a TBT version of the Louisville-Kentucky rivalry. The Ville is now in line to host the Kentucky men's basketball alumni team, La Familia, next Monday with a trip to TBT's "Final Four" on the line.

Aside from an early 8-0 run from Team DRC and a couple turnovers that led to easy baskets, The Ville looked like the much more crisp team right out of the gates. They were able to connect on over half of their shots in the opening quarter (7-for-13), held DRC to under a third of theirs (5-for-16), and established dominance down low in the post early on.

Then in the second quarter, The Ville exploded in the opening minutes of the period, stringing together multiple quality possessions on both ends of the floor. They fired off a 22-2 run stretching back to midway through the first quarter, flipping a four-point deficit into a 16-point lead.

Team DRC was able to salvage some momentum in the final minutes of the first half, but not before The Ville took a 38-30 lead at halftime.

That slight cushion coming out of the locker room proved to be much needed, as both offenses exploded in the second half. The Ville went 15-of-20 from the field and 6-of-11 on three-point attempts in this half, while Team DRC was 13-for-22 and 6-for-14, respectively. The two teams combined for 73 points in the second half, 51 points in the third quarter alone, with the home squad holding onto a nine-point lead entering the Elam Ending.

But during this time, it was all The Ville. Nick Mayo opened up the final segment with a three, with Smith hitting a pair of free-throws after that. Following a layup for DRC's lone points of the Elam Ending, Jones drained a three of his own to clinch the win.

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