Last week, Rick Pitino picked up collegiate win No. 600. It wasn’t easy, but the Louisville coach added one more milestone Friday.
The Cardinals erased a six-point deficit by scoring 16 of the final 21 points to post a 59-54 victory over Ohio in the final game of the Global Sports Invitational.
The win gave Pitino 250 victories at Louisville, making him the eighth coach in history with 250 wins at one school and 200 or more at another.
Ohio (3-1), which was playing its first road game of the season, led 49-43 with 3:55 left as D.J. Cooper completed a three-point play to cap a 17-2 run.
But Louisville senior Kyle Kuric got going after that, knocking down a pair of 3-pointers en route to a team-high 16 points.
Two Ohio turnovers helped the Cardinals end a 12-2 spurt up 55-51 with one minute to play. Cooper, who led the Bobcats with 16 points - all in the second half, hit another 3-pointer to make it a one-point game.
Down by three, Ohio had two chances to tie the game with less than 15 seconds on to play, but missed both attempts.
Freshman Stevie Taylor came off the bench to give Ohio a first-half spark as the 5-foot-9 guard scored eight points, including consecutive 3-pointers to help the Bobcats take a 21-18 lead with 6:07 left.
Ohio | Louisville | |
D.J. Cooper 16 | Scoring | Kyle Kuric 16 |
D.J. Cooper 3 | Assists | Peyton Siva 6 |
Reggie Keely 6 | Rebounds | Gorgui Dieng 16 |
Walter Offutt 2 | Free Throws Made | Peyton Siva 4 |
Jon Smith 2 | Steals | Kyle Kuric 4 |
T.J. Hall 1 | Blocks | Kyle Kuric 3 |
Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
Ohio | 54 | 38.2 | 8-23 | 4-8 | 7 | 34 | 2 | 5 | 14 |
Louisville | 59 | 37.0 | 5-19 | 14-22 | 14 | 39 | 6 | 7 | 12 |