Cards pause tweets enough to get 80-68 exhib. win

Several Louisville players have professed their love for the popular messaging site Twitter. Their love of tweets may have been tested Wednesday night during an exhibition with Georgetown when both teams were tweeted for 60 fouls. Those Cardinals may not want to hear any more tweets any time soon.

The Cardinals got off to an ugly start, missing 7 of their first 9 shots while Georgetown pushed to a 10-5 lead. The Tigers went ahead 15-9 midway through the first half before Louisville began to respond.

From 10:32 to 9:35, Louisville scored six quick points to tie the score at 15. The run included a dunk by Samardo Samuels on a quick no-look pass from Edgar Sosa, a free throw by Jared Swopshire and a three by freshman Mike Marra.

Georgetown pushed back with a pair of buckets to take a 19-15 lead, but Louisville tied the score with 6:15 left with a 4-0 run of its own and then took a 22-19 on a three by Kyle Kuric.

But the fiesty Tigers weren’t ready to relent yet and reeled off 11 straight points to take a 30-22 lead with 1:39 left before halftime. UofL closed the half on a 9-5 run capped by a three by Sosa to cut the halftime margin to 35-31.

Outside of Samuels’ 11 points, the first half was a mess for UofL. The rest of the team hit just 5 of 23 shots. Including Samuels, the team had 13 turnovers and missed seven free throws, including two front end shots of one-and-one opportunities.

After the half, Louisville score five of the first six points to tie the score at 36 with 18:23 to go. A three by Georgetown’s Vincent Crutcher, a Louisville native, put the Tigers ahead 39-36, and the teams traded baskets with Georgetown in the lead until the 14:52 mark when a lay-up by Preston Knowles on a fastbreak tied the score at 41. A rebound putback by Samuels put Louisville up 43-41, but a three by Georgetown’s Matt Walls put the Tigers back on top by one.

After a bucket by Samuels, Walls hit another three to put Georgetown ahead 47-45 with 13:00 left. A bankshot in the post by Samuels, giving him 20 for the game, tied the score at 47 eight seconds later. The score was tied at 47, 49, 51 and 53 before Louisville pulled ahead 55-53 on a dunk by Kyle Kuric with 7:53 left.

Kuric’s dunk ignited a 15-5 run by Louisville over the next six minutes that included eight points from Kuric and four from Siva as both worked at the point of attack on Louisville’s full-court press defense.

The Cardinals continued to pull away, outscoring Georgetown 25-7 between the 10:00 mark and 1:58 left when Jerry Smith stole the ball and got an easy lay-up to put Louisville ahead 76-60.

Louisville closed out the 80-68 win led by 20 points from Samuels, 15 from Kuric and 12 from Sosa. Georgetown was extremely balanaced, with only one player finishing in double-figures, Crutcher with 10.