| Date: Dec. 17, 2001 | Score: Louisville 70, Tennessee Tech 66 |
| Leading Scorers: U of L: Reece Gaines (24) Tennessee Tech: Cameron Crisp (22) |
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| Coming off their dramatic win against Ohio State, the Cards showed a little fatigue against a Tennessee Tech team that was playing its first game in nine days. The Golden Eagles, the defending regular season champs of the OVC, were poised and ready to play, and put up a much tougher fight than their mid-major status might suggest. In fact, if it weren't for some clutch shooting by Reece Gaines and a key tip-in from freshman Larry O'Bannon, this one easily could have gone the other way. Tennessee Tech led by as many as seven in the first half, but had that lead trimmed to 37-36 at halftime. Although the Eagles outrebounded U of L 19-18 in the first half, Reece Gaines, who led all scorers with 24 points on a career-best six three-pointers, scored eight of 10 first half points in the final 9:38 of the opening period to keep U of L close. |
| Good defense by the Cards and cold shooting by Tech allowed U of L to build a six-point lead: a three by Gaines four minutes into the second half tied the game at 41, then Carlos Hurt, who finished with 12 points, scored five straight to give U of L a 46-41 advantage. Gaines then scored the Cards' next five points on a lay-up and three-pointer, helping U of L to a 51-45 lead. The Cards were then held without a field goal the next four and a half minutes, and Tennessee Tech pulled within 51-50 with neither team leading by more than three the rest of the way until the final seconds. With the game deadlocked at 60, Ellis Myles, who finished with nine points and 15 rebounds for the Cards, muscled his way to a basket and a 62-60 Cardinal lead with 2:44 left, but Tech then got a three-pointer from Leigh Gayden to go up by one with 2:01 remaining. |
Then came the first of two key plays that won the game for U of L. After Bryant Northern missed a free throw, freshman Larry O'Bannon circled underneath and tipped in the miss to give the Cards the lead for good at 64-63. It was a tremendous play by O'Bannon. Each team then scored a free throw, and U of L had the ball with 20 seconds left. Reece Gaines faked a drive to the right, took two steps back, then drained a three-pointer to give U of L a 68-64 lead. Although Erik Brown was called for goaltending on a Cameron Crisp shot with 6.7 seconds left, Brown then hit two free throws with 5.5 seconds remaining to ice the game for U of L. Gaines was 4-5 on three-point shooting in the second half, and had four rebounds and four assists to boot. He seemed to hit a big three every time the Cards needed one. Luke Whitehead, still suffering from his fall in the Coppin State game, sat the game out.  |
