By Derek DeBurger

Just as soon as it began, The Ville has been eliminated from the TBT at the hands of Sideline Cancer.

Didn’t want it

For the second time in as many games, The Ville got out to a rough start.

However, this time the opposing team took advantage of the situation and then some.

Sideline got up 12-4 before The Ville had even hit a field goal. Their first shot from the field didn’t come until 4:13 left in the first when Malik Williams came of the bench to knock down a three-pointer.

From there The Ville was able to get some offense going, cutting the lead down to 16-12 on another three from Williams. But Sideline put their foot back on the petal, with Jermaine Marrow torching The Ville from deep and Chris Coffey having his way in the paint.

At the end of a 31-7 run The Ville trailed by 25 points.

Montrezl Harrell was able to do some work at the end of the second, but the deficit was just too big.

The Ville trailed 47-26 at the half.

Putting the “ille” in thrille?

Sideline was able to push their lead back up to 24 points with about half the third remaining.

Then The Ville flipped a switch.

The defense stepped up in a major way, with the offense running through guards Chris Jones and former Bellarmine player Chris Dowe.

By the end of the third, The Ville had cut their deficit down to 60-44.

Harrell was determined to keep the snowballing momentum growing, drawing a foul on a three and sinking every attempt at the line for the first points of the fourth quarter.

Harrell continued to dominate, scoring the first seven points of the quarter for either team and getting the lead down to just single digits.

After a wild sequence of loose ball after loose ball and players slipping and hitting the floor, Jay Scrubb dropped to defenders and found a wide open David Johnson for a deep three to cut the lead down to just five points.

On the other end Harrell swatted a shot off the backboard, but the rebound went right back to Coffey for an easy layup at the rim.

Johnson then airballed a three out of bounds, setting the target score for the Elam ending at 73.

With Louisville down 63-58, they needed to double up Sideline in order to pull of the comeback. But The Ville was in that position exactly one year ago when they beat Sideline Cancer in round two in the same fashion.

And things were looking good for The Ville, forcing a miss and getting a quick layup from Dowe to cut the lead back to five.

Sideline responded with a shot of their own, but a triple from Johnson cut the deficit to just four points at 67-63.

Sideline was forced into a timeout to regather the troops, and Marrow called game with a three out of the timeout and a banked three in transition to win it.

The Ville lost 73-63.

Going backwards

This is the earliest exit for The Ville in their short three-year history in the TBT.

The talent was there, but the coaching seems to have been the Achillies heel.

The Ville came out lethargic and ready for the third round, but Sideline was looking for revenge from their exit in the same building a year ago. It wasn’t until the third quarter, when most of the damage had already been done, that the players finally played with some urgency.

In spite of the poor outing, Harrell had another great game, scoring 21 points with eight rebounds.

Johnson was the second leading scorer with 13 points, and Williams had 12 off the bench.

It may have ended far too soon, but the TBT will almost assuredly be back next year.

Photo Courtesy // Clare Grant, Courier Journal