Louisville 69, Pittsburgh 56

[February 12, 2015]  No. 8 Louisville 69, Pittsburgh 56: Montrezl Harrell led the way with 28 points, 12 rebounds and five blocks as the host Cardinals used a 22-2 second-half surge to complete a season sweep of the Panthers.

Terry Rozier scored 18 of his 22 points in the second half and added 10 boards for Louisville (20-4, 8-3 ACC), which posted its 13th consecutive 20-win season. Chris Jones was the only other Cardinal to score more than four points, chipping in seven as the Cardinals shot 50 percent from the field and posted their sixth straight victory over their former Big East rival.

Michael Young had 16 points to pace Pittsburgh (16-9, 5-6), which saw its three-game winning streak snapped. Jamel Artis contributed 15 points and nine boards as the Panthers lost the battle of the glass 39-29 and shot 37.7 percent.
 

Harrell scored 14 of Louisville’s 27 first-half points, but the Cardinals only led by five at the break despite shooting 52.2 percent from the field. Pittsburgh came out of intermission on fire, getting six straight points from Young and connecting on eight of its first 10 shots to take a five-point advantage on two occasions over the first 5 ½ minutes of the second half.

After James Robinson sank a 3-pointer with just over 12 minutes to play to give the Panthers their largest lead of the game at 45-39, Louisville held Pittsburgh without a field goal for the next 10 ½ minutes. Harrell’s dunk less than two minutes later tied it, Quentin Snider’s jumper shortly thereafter capped a 10-0 burst while Harrell and Rozier followed a free throw from Artis with all of the points during a 12-1 run that left the Cardinals ahead 61-47 with less than four minutes remaining.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Louisville went 0-of-4 beyond the arc, marking the first time since Jan. 18, 1992, that the Cardinals failed to hit at least one 3-pointer. … Pittsburgh posted a 68:25 assist-to-turnover ratio while posting its three highest assist totals of the season during its winning streak, but only managed 12 assists versus 10 turnovers on Wednesday. … Snider scored four points while Anton Gill and Anas Mahmoud each added a bucket to give the Cardinals their first points off the bench in three games.

[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.