Louisville, Ky. – Winthrop men's basketball fell 76-61 at Louisville, Friday night in non-conference action.
WINTHROP (4-3, 0-0 Big South)
LOUISVILLE (3-1, 0-0 ACC)
- Reyne Smith (20 points, 3 rebounds, assist)
- J'Vonne Hadley (12 points, 13 rebounds, steal)
- James Scott (12 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, steal, 5 blocks)
FIRST HALF
- Eagles scored first as Nick Johnson passed the ball to Kasen Harrison who took the ball and scored off a layup
- Cardinals reeled off six straight points that included two buckets at the rim by J'Vonne Hadley to lead 6-2 at the 16:46 mark
- Kelton Talford pulled the Eagles within a point as he boarded and miss and scored while getting fouled
- Talford converted the three-point play as the Eagles trailed 6-5 with 16:23 on the clock
- Terrance Edwards Jr. put Louisville up 8-5 with a turn around jumper with 14:47 left in the half, which the score remained for the next two minutes until Paul Jones III drained a three as the clock shot expired to tie the game
- The first 10 minutes of the game the teams combined to shoot 8-for-30 and eight turnovers as Louisville led 10-8
- Eagles trailed 12-11 when Ryan Jolly drove and finished with the left hand to lead 13-12
- The lead was short lived as Louisville came right back to take the lead as Chucky Hepburn found James Scott inside for the dunk
- That dunk led to a 6-0 spurt and a 17-13 lead with 5:36 remaining in the half, forcing Winthrop to call timeout
- The spurt turned into an 8-0 run after two free throws from Kasean Pryor
- Nick Johnson ended the run as he took a pass from Harrison and got a three-point attempt to fall to make it a 20-16 game with just under five left
- Cardinals went on another 6-0 spurt that was highlighted by a three from Ryne Smith for a 10-point advantage
- A steal by Harrison led to a short jumper by Jones III to get the deficit back to single-digits with 3:20 remaining
- Eagles were within four points with 1:33 left after Talford boarded a missed three, passed the ball to Johnson only to get it right back for a dunk to trail 29-25
- Smith hit 2-of-3 free throws and then completed a four-point play to put the Cardinals up to lead by 10 with 21 seconds left
- Eagles did score on their final possession as Harrison knocked down a shot with six seconds left to trail 35-27 at the break
SECOND HALF
- Each team scored on their opening possession of the first half
- Louisville took advantage of an offensive rebound as Hepburn hit Scott with a pass cutting to the basket for a layup and Doucet drilled a three for the Eagles
- Louisville retook a double-digit lead at the 15:16 mark when Pryor stole the ball from Harrison in the back court and went the distance for a slam and a 43-32 lead
- Winthrop was forced to call timeout with 14 minutes left when Scott scored at the rim for a 13 point advantage
- Out of the timeout Doucet scored inside with an And-1, but couldn't get the free throw to drop
- On the next possession in transition Doucet pulled up for a left wing three and made it while getting fouled but the free throw didn't go as the Eagles trailed 45-37 with 13:32 to play
- Smith answered the 5-0 spurt with his third three of the game to lead 48-37
- Hepburn's jumper with 9:31 left to play put the Cardinals ahead 51-40 only to have Bryce Baker answer with a corner three to get it back to single-digits
- On the ensuing possession Hepburn responded with a three of his own to lead 54-43 with nine minutes left
- Jones III was fouled on a three the next possession and hit 2-of-3 at the line to bring the Eagles back within single-digits at 54-45
- Eagles were whistled for a shot clock violation looking to dig into the Louisville lead and Smith buried a three on the other went for a 12 point advantagewith just under eight minutes remaining
- The lead grew to 16 points with 6:06 left on second chance bucket by Scott
- The closest the Eagles got down the stretch was 10 points at 71-61 with 2:12 to play
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Eagles were just 22-of-70 from the floor (31 percent) while Louisville finished shooting 48 percent
- Winthrop was 11-of-22 at the foul line (50 percent) and the Cardinals were 17-of-26 (65 perent)
- Both teams combined for 39 turnovers as the Eagles forced 20 that led to 13 points while Louisville had 21 points off turnovers
- The rebounding battle went to Louisville, 44-41 but the Eagles had a 19-10 advantage in offensive rebounds
- Kelton Talford led four Eagles in double-figures with 15 while Doucet had 13, Paul Jones III had 12 and Kasen Harrison finished with 10
NOTABLES
- Doucet recorded a double-double for the second time in three games
- Talford's 15 points pushes him to 1,436 career points, moving him into 6th on the all-time list as he passed Fred McKinnon and now trails 5th place by 25 points
- This was the 3rd game this season the Eagles have forced 20 or more turnovers
UP NEXT
Winthrop returns home for the first of two straight at the Winthrop Coliseum as it takes on LIU on Monday, Nov. 25 at 6:30 p.m.
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