College basketball roundup: Big run helps Louisville shake off Robert Morris
Notice: Undefined variable: article_ad_placement3 in /usr/web/cs-washington.ogdennews.com/wp-content/themes/News_Core_2023_WashCluster/single.php on line 128
Jordan Nwora scored seven of his 19 points during a decisive 20-2 spurt to lead Louisville to a 73-59 victory over Robert Morris on Friday night.
Nwora was 7-of-12 shooting and added 13 rebounds for his third double-double in the last four games for the Cardinals (9-3). Steven Enoch added 16 points and Dwayne Sutton had 14.
Early on, the Colonials (4-8) seemed prime to mount a big upset over their Atlantic Coast Conference hosts. At one point, they made 9 of 10 shots and used a 13-2 run to build a 28-17 lead with 6:02 left in the first half. Louisville rallied and even took a brief lead late in the half, but Robert Morris weathered the first run and took a 32-29 lead into halftime.
Charles Bain hit a 3-pointer with 17:53 left that extended the Colonials’ lead to 39-31, but it was all Cardinals from there as they shot 54.2 percent in the second half. Darius Perry’s 3-pointer gave the Cardinals the lead for good at 43-41 with 14:05 remaining.
The run put Louisville up 51-41 with 10:04 left. The lead would grow to as much as 17 points, and the Colonials never got closer than eight points the rest of the way.
Bain’s 18 points led the Colonials, who shot just 37.7 percent.
Louisville played without Christen Cunningham, who was a late scratch from the starting lineup. The graduate transfer hit his head in practice earlier this week and remained in the concussion protocol.
Despite entering Friday on a four-game losing streak, the Colonials led the Northeast Conference in scoring defense, allowing just 70.7 points a game. They used that defense to deny Louisville opportunities to attack the rim in the first half.
No. 10 Michigan State 99, Oakland 69: Cassius Winston scored a season-high 26 points, leading No. 10 Michigan State to a 99-69 win over Oakland.
The Spartans (10-2) have won five straight.
The Golden Grizzlies (4-9) dropped their fourth game in a row.
Michigan State’s Nick Ward had 14 points in 20 minutes, limited by foul trouble. Joshua Langford started slow offensively and finished with 12 points for the Spartans.