Cards top Bellarmine, 88-65 Louisville,
KY (04-11-2009) - University of Louisville coach
Rick Pitino experimented with a multitude of lineups
Wednesday night against Bellarmine. And it looked as if
the Cardinals found a winning formula while dispatching
the Knights 88-65 in Freedom Hall.
Pitino’s lineup trials started at tipoff. Although he
said he wouldn’t use sophomore forwards Samardo
Samuels and Terrence Jennings in the same
lineup early in the season, he started the two together.
He also surrounded them with a three-guard offense of
Edgar Sosa, Jerry Smith and Preston
Knowles.
The guard trio never played in the same lineup last
season. Samuels and Jennings played briefly in the same
lineup in one instance at St. John’s.
It resulted in a quick start for the No. 19 Cards in
their final tuneup before starting the regular season
Nov. 17 against Arkansas in St. Louis.
U of L opened the game with its first four baskets from
four different players to take a 9-3 lead and never
trailed the No. 1-ranked team in Division II. The Cards’
passing was crisp, and there was plenty of sharing as
seven different players had scored before the 11-minute
mark in the first half.
The Cards had just seven assists on their first 17 field
goals, but shot 53 percent from the field in the first
half.
Sosa and Knowles had the hottest hands offensively. Sosa
was 5 for 6 and had all 12 of his points in the first
half. Knowles was right behind him shooting 4 of 6 for
10 points and finished with 15.
Bellarmine junior guard Justin Benedetti kept the
Cards from running away with it early with his outside
shooting. Benedetti scored 13 of his game-high 21 points
in the first half. He finished with 8 of 16 from the
floor including five three-pointers.
As impressive as Benedetti was shooting the ball, the
Cards had several players who left their own lasting
impressions.
Knowles had a two-minute span in the first half where he
scored seven consecutive points and helped turn a
10-point leading into 37-22.
Samuels was workmanlike on the boards, grabbing a
game-high 14 rebounds. The Knights couldn’t match
Samuels’ strength inside as he powered through forwards
Nick Holmes and Andrew Patterson to dunk
home two of his 18 points.
Freshman Peyton Siva had his highlight moments,
but not the way you’d expect from a 6-foot point guard.
Siva showed off his explosiveness by coming up from
behind to swat Forrest Smallwood’s shot out of
bounds.
Siva also trailed a fast break and when Smith missed a
contested layup, Siva followed it with a backwards dunk.
Luke Sprague and Patterson were the only other
players in double figures for the Knights, scoring 12
and 10, respectively.
caption: Samardo Samuels shoots over Bellarmine's
Andrew Patterson. (By Michael Hayman, The
Courier-Journal) Nov. 4, 2009
Louisville,
KY (04-11-2009) - University of Louisville coach
Rick Pitino experimented with a multitude of lineups
Wednesday night against Bellarmine. And it looked as if
the Cardinals found a winning formula while dispatching
the Knights 88-65 in Freedom Hall.
