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Louisville breaks Kentucky’s grip

Louisville’s Russ Smith (back) shoots over Kentucky’s Archie Goodwin (Sylvan Hills) during the second half of the No. 4 Cardinals’ 80-77 victory over the Wildcats on Saturday in Louisville, Ky.
Louisville’s Russ Smith (back) shoots over Kentucky’s Archie Goodwin (Sylvan Hills) during the second half of the No. 4 Cardinals’ 80-77 victory over the Wildcats on Saturday in Louisville, Ky.

— Russ Smith scored 21 points and Chane Behanan had 20 and No. 4 Louisville ended a four game losing streak against rival Kentucky with an up and-down 80-77 victory Saturday.

Peyton Siva added 19 points as the Cardinals (12-1) won a hard-fought Battle of the Bluegrass. Though the Cardinals trail the series 30-15, their victory followed last spring’s 69-61 national semifinal loss to the Wildcats, who went on to win their eighth national championship.

But Louisville had to withstand several charges from Kentucky to do so. The Wildcats trailed 51-34 but outscored the Cardinals 28-14 to get within 65-62 before Smith’s two baskets keyed an 8-5 run to give Louisville some space.

Behanan sealed Louisville’s victory with two dunks, the final one following his steal of a pass by Archie Goodwin (Sylvan Hills) with 18 seconds remaining.

Goodwin scored 19 of his 22 points in the second half for Kentucky (8-4) and Ryan Harrow added 17 points.

Poor free throw shooting doomed the Wildcats’ comeback. They shot just 11 of 23 (48 percent) from the line, matching their percentage from the field.

Louisville also shot 48 percent from the field but made 17 of 25 from the free throw line to win its seventh consecutive.

As might be expected from bitter in-state rivals, the early minutes were physical and intense with six ties and five lead changes. There were lineup changes for both teams.

Kentucky started 7-foot freshman Willie Cauley-Stein alongside 6-10 Nerlens Noel for the first time in an effort to establish a post game against the Cardinals. The Wildcats’ move might have been a preemptive one with Louisville expected to start 6-11 center Gorgui Dieng, who returned from a seven-game absence with a broken left wrist.

The Cardinals instead started 6-10 Zach Price but Dieng entered the game just 1:43 in and quickly made his presence felt with three rebounds, a block and a dunk that helped give Louisville a 12-10 lead. Unfortunately for the Cardinals, the junior soon picked up his second foul that appeared to be committed by Montrezl Harrell.

Dieng pointed that fact out to an official with no success as Alex Poythress made 1 of 2 free throws to put the Wildcats up 13-12.

By then Kentucky was starting an 8-0 run helped by Harrow’s careful ball handling that forced the action inside. Poythress and Kyle Wiltjer added three-pointers as the Wildcats were 7 of 15 from the field at the 10:13 mark.

Louisville was just 6 of 16 at that point but quickly made up for that initial inaccuracy to wipe out an 18-12 deficit. Siva’s layup began a 13-2 run led by Behanan, who had a powerful transition dunk off a steal by Smith, a baseline jumper and another as he fell to the court.

A follow dunk by Noel and Harrow’s three-pointer tied the game at 25-25 with 4:02 remaining in the first half, but those were Kentucky’s last field goals before halftime. Louisville closed with an 11-4 run for a 36-28 lead in a half in which it shot 15 of 31 (48 percent) and scored 22 points in the lane.

Behanan’s 11 points and five rebounds led the Cardinals, while Siva added 10 including two three-pointers. Harrell provided Louisville’s biggest boost with five points and four rebounds as Dieng sat out the final seven minutes.

In other games involving top 25 teams, Seth Curry scored 12 of his season-high 31 points during the late run that helped No. 1 Duke pull away for a 90-77 victory over Santa Clara in Durham, N.C. Mason Plumlee added 22 points and 13 rebounds for the Blue Devils (12-0), who needed a huge run late to overcome both a big game from Kevin Foster and a real scare from the Broncos (11-3). Foster scored 18 of his 29 points in the first half for upset-minded Santa Clara, and his soaring baseline dunk put the Broncos up 45-41 with 16:30 left. ... Trey Burke had 22 points and 10 assists as No. 2 Michigan finished its nonconference schedule with a 88-73 victory over Central Michigan in Ann Arbor, Mich. Michigan played without junior Tim Hardaway Jr. who missed the first game of his career with an ankle injury. That meant the Wolverines started three freshmen - Nik Stauskas, Glenn Robinson III and Caris LeVert - along with Burke and Jordan Morgan. Robinson had 20 points, while Stauskas finished with 19 for Michigan (13-0), which is off to the second-best start in school history. ... C.J. Fair scored 13 points, Trevor Cooney added 12, all in the second half to key a late surge, and No. 9 Syracuse(11-1) beat Alcorn State (2-13) 57-36 in the final game of the Gotham Classic in Syracuse, N.Y. It was the 901st victory for Orange Coach Jim Boeheim, one behind Bob Knight for second place all-time among Division I men’s coaches. Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski leads with 939 victories. ... Deshaun Thomas scored 17 points and No. 10 Ohio State regained its shooting touch with an 87-44 victory over Chicago State in Columbus, Ohio, the Buckeyes’ final tuneup before beginning Big Ten play. LaQuinton Ross added 15 points, Lenzelle Smith Jr. had 13, Amedeo Della Valle had career-high 11 and Aaron Craft scored 10 for the Buckeyes (10-2). Quinton Pippen, a nephew of ex-Chicago Bulls star Scottie Pippen (Hamburg, Central Arkansas), had 12 points for Chicago State (3-12). ... Tracy Abrams scored a career-high 27 points and No. 12 Illinois (13-1) beat Auburn (5-7) 81-79 in Chicago. ... Kenny Boynton snapped a shooting slump with 3 three-pointers in the second half, when No. 14 Florida (9-2) pulled away to beat Air Force (8-3) 78-61 in the second game of the Orange Bowl Basketball Classic in Sunrise, Fla. ... P.J. Hairston scored 15 points in his first career start to help North Carolina (10-3) beat No. 20 UNLV (11-2)79-73 in Chapel Hill, N.C. ... C.J. Leslie scored 19 points to lead No. 23 North Carolina State(10-2) to an 84-68 victory over Western Michigan (8-5) in Raleigh, N.C. ... Rodney McGruder scored 17 points, Thomas Gipson had 13 points and six rebounds and No. 25 Kansas State (10-2) struggled to a 52-44 victory over Missouri-Kansas City (4-9) in Manhattan, Kan. ... Travis Releford scored 19 points and No. 6 Kansas (11-1) hit 13 of its first 18 three-point attempts, rolling to an 89-57 victory over American University in Lawrence, Kan. ... Doug McDermott scored 14 of his 29 points in a 6 1/2-minute stretch of the second half when No. 16 Creighton (12-1, 1-0 Missouri Valley) pulled away from Evansville (7-6, 0-1) for an 87-70 victory in Omaha, Neb. ... Rotnei Clarke hit six three-pointers and finished with 22 points and 18th-ranked Butler (10-2) shook off a sluggish start and routed Vanderbilt (5-6) 68-49 in Nashville, Tenn.

Sports, Pages 26 on 12/30/2012

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