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Louisville eases past Morgan State

Dec 28, 2010 - 7:34 AM Louisville, KY (Sports Network) - Preston Knowles scored 31 points, Kyle Kuric had 25 and No. 22 Louisville carried its 30-point halftime lead to the final buzzer in a 104-74 rout of Morgan State.

Kuric hit five three-pointers and scored 17 of his points in the first half for the Cardinals (11-1), who built a 58-28 lead after 20 minutes and went ahead by as many as 34 in the second half.

Knowles and Kuric combined to go 13-for-19 from three-point range in the game as Louisville earned its third straight win since being upset by Drexel on December 14.

"The old basketball cliche says that shooting cures a multitude of sins tonight," said Louisville head coach Rick Pitino, who wasn't pleased with his team's defense.

DeWayne Jackson scored 22 points to lead Morgan State (4-6), which has lost two straight games by a combined 72 points.

The Bears were coming off a 42-point setback to Syracuse on December 20.

"Have we had games like this? No, not since we have been here, especially not back-to-back," said Morgan State head coach Todd Bozeman. "We might have one here and there but you don't have them back-to-back. We just have one more of these monsters on our schedule which is Baylor. We just want to keep building and try to stay positive."

Louisville opened the game with a 12-2 run, bolstered by a trio of Kuric threes, and rarely led by fewer than 10 points after that.

The Cardinals' lead passed 20 points for the first time with 9:40 left in the first half when Knowles' three-pointer made it 35-14. It reached 30 twice in the final minute of the half.

Knowles was 3-for-4 from beyond the arc and scored 15 of his game-high 31 points in the opening half and Louisville shot 58 percent as a team.

Morgan State kept its deficit below 30 points for about 4 1/2 minutes near the beginning of the second half, but never seriously threatened.

Louisville went ahead by as many as 34 points when a Kuric three made it 77-43 with 12:58 remaining in the game.

He finished 7-of-10 from beyond the arc, while Knowles was 6-of-9. Terrence Jennings added 15 points in the win and Chris Smith scored 10.

Morgan State got 13 points from Aric Brooks and 10 from Kevin Thompson.

Game Notes

Louisville leads the all-time series 3-0...The Cardinals shot 59 percent for the game, while Morgan State shot 46 percent.