CINCINNATI (REUTERS)–With the score accelerating at an NBA pace, Louisville coach Rick Pitino was reminded of something he learned long ago about college tournament games in March.
They’re often decided by a player having a big game–like the one Bryant Northern had Wednesday.
Northern scored a career-high 25 points and led a three-point shooting barrage that carried Louisville to a 110-86 victory over TCU in the first round of the Conference USA tournament.
Louisville (18-11) riddled the conference’s worst defense, hitting 15 of its 30 three-point shots, as it made another breakthrough in Pitino’s first season. The Cardinals will play No. 13 Marquette (24-5) in the quarterfinals Thursday.
The Cardinals went 12-19 last season under Denny Crum and lost in the first round of the conference tournament. Pitino, who led Kentucky to the Final Four in 1997 before going to the Boston Celtics, is 25-6 in conference tournaments, where most teams like to play it conservative.
Not Pitino, who let his team fire away.
“There are so many buzzer-beaters because everybody plays it close to the vest,” he said. “This time of the year is the players’ time. I have confidence in them. They know they have the freedom.”
Reece Gaines scored 30 points for Louisville, going 11-of-16 from the field, while Northern led the spurt that left TCU too far behind. Northern missed only one of his nine shots and was 6-of-7 on three-point attempts.
Northern had plenty of room to shoot, because TCU (16-15) concentrated on containing Gaines, who averages 20.5 points per game.
Louisville’s high-scoring shooting guard spent much of the time passing to his point guard, who made three-pointers from everywhere around the arc. Gaines wound up with 10 assists.
“Passing creates those shots,” Northern said. “I think he’s the best player in the conference, and everybody tries to stop him. I was just at the right place at the right time. I’ve always shot with confidence.”
TCU’s frenetic style kept it close at the outset–there were four ties and eight lead changes in the first nine minutes. When TCU pulled in its defense to keep Louisville away from the basket, the Cardinals fired away and pulled away.
The Cardinals ran off four consecutive three-pointers, the last two by Northern, during a 12-3 run that made it 43-30. Gaines had 20 points in Louisville’s highest-scoring half of the season, which ended with a 56-43 lead.
Northern hit five of his first six shots in the second half–three of them three-pointers–for a 69-47 lead that started the frustration building on the TCU bench.
The same thing happened during Louisville’s 93-85 win over the Horned Frogs Jan. 12, when the Cardinals shot a school-record 40 three-pointers and made 11 of them.
The run-and-gun pace was typical for TCU, which led the conference in scoring (81.2 points per game) and was last in defense (83.4 allowed per game).
Louisville reached the 100-point mark for the first time this season when Ellis Myles hit two free throws with 4:30 to go, making it 101-78.
Houston 58, East Carolina 49
CINCINNATI–Louis Truscott scored 11 of his game-high 15 points in the second half Wednesday as Houston rallied for a 58-49 victory over East Carolina in the first round of the Conference USA tournament.
Houston (17-13) overcame a 13-point deficit late in the first half to earn a quarterfinal matchup against Memphis (22-8) Thursday.
East Carolina (12-18) stunned the Cougars by pulling out to a 25-12 lead with 5:20 left in the first half, but the Pirates’ undependable offense disintegrated. The Pirates finished last in the conference in scoring (60.4 points per game), field-goal shooting and three-point shooting.
Houston is the best-shooting team in the conference, making 47.6 percent from the field, but the Cougars couldn’t get any shots to go in at the outset. They missed 14 of their first 16, as East Carolina pulled ahead by double digits.
It looked like they were headed for a repeat of their 63-46 loss at East Carolina on Feb. 23, when the Pirates held them to 29.6 percent shooting.
Jonathan Moore’s three-pointer put East Carolina ahead 25-12 with 5:20 left in the first half, but the basket became a turning point as Houston closed with a 13-1 spurt. Bryan Shelton’s floating jumper with 1 second to go cut East Carolina’s lead to 26-25 at halftime.
Truscott’s fast-break layup put Houston ahead 27-26 at the start of the second half, and the lead went back-and-forth for the next 10 minutes. There were four ties and seven lead changes as both teams dug in with zone defenses.
Houston went ahead to stay with a nine-point run that made it 48-40 with 6:42 left. George Williams had a dunk and another up-close basket during the spurt, which was set up by two Pirates turnovers.
Kenyatta Brown’s driving bank shot cut it to 54-49 with 1:25 to go, but the Pirates missed their next two shots, forcing them to foul. Patrick Okafor hit two free throws with 25 seconds left, and Truscott closed it out with a dunk.
Travis Holcomb-Faye led East Carolina with 12 points on 4-of-14 shooting.
