• Recap
• Bleachers

No. 7 Villanova remains hot, tops Louisville

Jan 13, 2011 - 3:37 AM Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - Corey Stokes ended with a team-high 23 points, and No. 7 Villanova ran its winning streak to 10 games with a sound 88-74 victory over 18th-ranked Louisville at Wells Fargo Center.

Mouphtaou Yarou scored a career-high 18 points to go with 11 rebounds, while Corey Fisher tacked on 17 points and five assists for the Wildcats (15-1, 4-0 Big East), who shot 53 percent from the floor to make up for 18 turnovers.

Preston Knowles connected on 6-of-10 from behind the arc to finish with 24 points for the Cardinals (13-3, 2-1), who have fallen in two of their past four games.

Villanova's 72-61 win over previously unbeaten Cincinnati on Sunday was a defensive slugfest that featured 58 free throws.

Wednesday's tilt played differently, especially in the first half, when Knowles, Chris Smith and Peyton Siva combined to hit 8-of-12 from three-point range to carry Louisville.

The Wildcats kept pace behind Stokes' 16 points, and 'Nova held a slim 42-41 lead at the end of a back-and-forth opening 20 minutes.

Knowles opened the second half with a three-pointer, and Villanova's Antonio Pena countered with a pair of buckets to re-gain the lead.

The Wildcats never trailed from there.

A Smith free throw had Louisville within five with 12:42 left, but the hosts scored the next eight points and went up 67-54 on a Fisher three-pointer near the midway point.

The Cardinals had the deficit as low as six, 69-63, but Yarou converted a three-point play near the six-minute mark, and Maalik Wayns and Fisher each followed with layups in transition to re-store the double-digit lead.

Yarou's dunk with just over four minutes remaining made it a 15-point affair, 80-65, and the Wildcats cruised down the stretch to survive the tough conference test.

Game Notes

Louisville's Jared Swopshire will have surgery later this month to repair a groin injury that has kept him on the sideline all season. The junior forward, who averaged 7.5 points and 6.1 rebounds last season, is expected to miss eight weeks...Yarou has three double-doubles this season...Wayns finished with 15 points and seven assists...Smith and Siva netted 18 and 14 points, respectively, in defeat.