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Louisville rolls to another double-digit victory

Feb 28, 2013 - 4:49 AM Rosemont, IL (Sports Network) - Russ Smith scored 17 points, Peyton Siva added 16 and three other Cardinals finished in double figures as well, as No. 10 Louisville beat DePaul, 79-58, in a sloppy Big East matchup.

Louisville (23-5, 11-4 Big East) committed 18 turnovers to DePaul's 19, but made 14 more free throws to roll to its fourth consecutive double-digit win.

Chane Behanan totaled 10 points and nine rebounds, while Montrezl Harrell and Gorgui Dieng checked in with 11 and 10 points, respectively, for the Cardinals, who stayed one game behind Big East-leading Georgetown.

Brandon Young and Cleveland Melvin were again the only offensive threats for DePaul (11-17, 2-13), netting 22 and 20 points, respectively, in the team's 12th loss in 13 games.

The Blue Demons scored the first eight points, but the Cardinals responded quickly with the next 10 and turned up the heat defensively in the process.

Louisville scored 17 points off 12 first-half turnovers, three coming when Behanan picked off Worrel Clahar's blind pass near midcourt and threw down a monster dunk while being fouled.

The three-point play was part of a 7-1 run that gave the Cardinals a 26-17 lead, and it was 34-25 in favor of the visitors at the break.

Harrell's dunk capped seven straight Louisville points early in the second half to extended the margin to 45-31.

Siva was on the bench when the difference was cut to 61-53, and upon his return the Cardinals rattled off 10 straight points to pull away.

Game Notes

Louisville came in second in the nation in turnover margin at plus-6.3 ... Louisville plays at Syracuse on Saturday ... DePaul has lost 41 straight games against ranked opponents and 10 straight against Louisville ... Smith had amassed 1,000 points in his career.