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Louisville tops Lamar behind balanced attack

Nov 14, 2011 - 1:17 AM Louisville, KY (Sports Network) - Jared Swopshire scored 13 points and pulled down eight rebounds in a 24-minute run off the bench as No. 9 Louisville topped Lamar, 68-48 on Sunday as part of the Global Sports Invitational.

Peyton Siva netted 11 points and dished out three assists for Louisville (2-0), while Chris Smith had 10 points and Chane Behanan added 13 rebounds to go with his 10 points.

Gorqui Dieng chipped in with seven points and Mike Marra had six points off the bench for Louisville, which thumped UT-Martin 83-48 in its season opener on Friday.

"It was a good test for us early. We knew that after one day of prep, it wasn't going to be an easy game," Louisville assistant coach Richard Pitino said.

Devon Lamb led Lamar (1-1) with 10 points and eight boards, while Charlie Harper had seven points and nine rebounds and Brandon Davis contributed nine points off the bench.

The game was tied 7-7 early in the first half and Louisville used a quick 6-0 run to take a 13-7 lead before free throws by Vincenzo Nelson stopped the run and pulled Lamar to within 13-9.

But Louisville went on another 6-0 run to push the lead to 10 with 9:56 left in the opening half.

Louisville kept the pressure up, and a layup by Marra with 1:36 to play gave the Cardinals their largest lead of the half at 16, 36-20. They closed out the first half holding a 36-23 advantage.

In the second half, Louisville's hot shooting continued and a dunk by Swopshire with 12:57 to play put the Cardinals up 20, 47-27.

A jumper by Mike James with 5:58 left in regulation got Lamar to within eight, but that's as close as it got.

Louisville finished off the win with a 6-0 run over the last 1:29 to account for the final score.

"I was proud of our kids," Lamar head coach Pat Knight said. "From a defensive effort standpoint, I thought they did as well as they could. Now from a shooting standpoint, free throws, it's got to get better. But to be down by 20 and cut it to nine, I thought they did themselves proud and Lamar proud."

Game Notes

Louisville is a perfect 4-0 all-time against Lamar...Louisville shot 40 percent for the game, while Lamar shot only 23 percent...Louisville dominated inside, netting 38 points in the paint to 24 for Lamar...Louisville outrebounded Lamar 49-44...Louisville will face Arkansas State on November 22, while Lamar will play Ohio University on Tuesday.