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Wiley explodes but U of L hangs on
From wire reports with staff contributions
Box Score
LOUISVILLE, KY — A
blistering run by Louisville to start the second half turned out to be
just enough to counter an offensive onslaught by East Carolina's Derrick
Wiley as the No. 11 Cardinals fought off a tougher-than-expected Freedom
Hall challenge.
Reece Gaines scored a season-high
30 points and Louisville overcame the absence of its top two rebounders to
fend off the Pirates 82-76 on Saturday and snap a three-game
losing streak.
Freshman Taquan Dean scored 17 points and freshman
Francisco Garcia added 15 for the Cardinals (20-5, 10-4 Conference USA),
who had lost two straight at home and were playing without Ellis Myles
and Marvin Stone.
The 6-foot-8 Myles suffered a season-ending knee injury
in Thursday's 78-73 loss to Marquette. The 6-10 Stone was held out by
the school as the NCAA continues looking into his ties to his former AAU
coach in Alabama.
Kendall Dartez and Luke Whitehead, with a combined five
starts this season, replaced Stone and Myles in the starting lineup.
Wiley put up a double-double — scoring a career-high 29
points while snaring 11 rebounds — to lead East Carolina (12-14, 3-12),
which lost for the 12th time in 14 games.
The Cardinals used fullcourt pressure from the opening
tip, then dropped back into a 2-3 zone most of the game to mask their
depleted frontcourt.
Louisville started 9-of-16 from the field and built a
six-point lead. But Gaines picked up his second foul with 7:12 left in
the first half and was benched by coach Rick Pitino.
The Cardinals didn't click on offense the rest of the
first half, missing four of their last five shots.
Gaines returned at the start of the second half and the
Cardinals reeled off 17 straight points.
The Pirates called a timeout 90 seconds into the half,
but then threw the ball out of bounds on a set play. Gaines hit a
jumper, then assisted on a 3-pointer by Garcia for a 43-36 lead.
The Cardinals' smothering press generated seven
turnovers in the first 3:04 of the second half.
Gaines' 3-pointer from the top of the key with 16:33
left gave Louisville its biggest lead, 48-36.
The Pirates showed more patience on offense to climb
back into the game.
Wiley converted a three-point play with 9:06 left to cut
Louisville's lead to 54-51.
The Cardinals led 68-62 when Gaines made a 3-pointer
from the top of the key with 4:08 left. The basket gave Gaines 25
points, which moved him past Milt Wagner into fourth place on the
school's all-time scoring list.
Garcia scored on a drive to push the lead to 11, but
Travis Holcomb-Faye hit a jumper to start a 10-2 run by the Pirates.
Gabriel Mikulas hit a baseline shot with 1:41 left to
trim the deficit to 75-72. Dartez and Gaines each hit a free throw over
the next minute, and Gaines hit two more with 22 seconds left to put the
game away.
The school invited all its former lettermen back for
Saturday's game.
All-time scorer Darrell Griffith, the star of
Louisville's 1980 NCAA championship team, spoke to the crowd from
midcourt shortly before tipoff.
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BOX
SCORE Louisville
(20-5, 10-4) 82, East Carolina (12-14, 3-12) 76
EAST CAROLINA (76)
Player FG
FT PTS
Bing
2-2 1-2 5
Mikulas 5-8
2-3 12
Rivers
1-2 0-0 3
Wiley
10-19 7-10 29
Holcomb-Faye 5-10 1-2
12
Mackay
0-0 0-0 0
Badiane 1-6
9-11 11
Moore
1-4 1-2 4
Totals
25-51 21-30 76
LOUISVILLE (82)
Player
FG FT
PTS
Whitehead 2-4
0-0 4
Garcia
5-10 2-2 15
Dartez
2-7 4-6 8
Dean
6-11 3-4 17
Gaines
9-19 8-10 30
Tinch
0-0 0-0 0
Northern 0-3
0-0 0
Naydenov 0-1
0-0 0
Brown
0-2 0-0 0
O'Bannon 1-2
0-0 2
George
2-4 2-3 6
Totals
27-63 19-25 82
Halftime: East Carolina 36,
Louisville 31.
3-point goals: East Carolina
5-10 (Wiley 2-4, Rivers 1-1, Moore 1-2, Holcomb-Faye 1-3);
Louisville 9-24 (Gaines 4-9, Garcia 3-6, Dean 2-7, Northern 0-2).
Rebounds: East Carolina 38
(Wiley 11), Louisville 35 (George 9).
Assists: East Carolina 14
(Holcomb-Faye 5), Louisville 12 (Dean 3).
Total fouls: East Carolina 23,
Louisville 23.
Fouled out: Holcomb-Faye,
Garcia.
Technical fouls: None.
Attendance: 19,502. |
02/23/07 10:56 AM
Copyright 2003
The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may
not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Bonesville.net contributed to this report.
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