Mountaineers 54, Cardinals 63, Final - Jan. 10, 2008

Cards Defend their Spot in the Conference

The Louisville Cardinals’ consistent defense led them to win 63-54 against the West Virginia Mountaineers on Thursday, January 10, during the Big East Conference at Freedom Hall.

Through holes in West Virginia’s defense, Louisville quickly worked their way into the lead making the score 32-23 by the end of the first quarter.

Jerry Smith was Louisville’s top scorer with 14 points but it was Joe Alexander who had the game-high of 22 points for West Virginia, 14 of them in a row in the second half.

 The pressure applied by the Cardinal’s defense forced the Mountaineers to take shots they couldn’t make causing them to trail Louisville throughout the game and sink only 36.4% of their shots.

Both teams went into bonus because of the amount of fouling that ensued. West Virginia had 19 personal fouls and Louisville had 17.

Free throws did not help West Virginia much, however, who sunk 55.6% of their shots as compared to Louisville’s 64.7%.