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No. 3 Louisville finishes strong, beats Seton Hall

Jan 10, 2013 - 3:54 AM Newark, NJ (Sports Network) - Gorgui Dieng tallied 16 points and 14 rebounds as No. 3 Louisville used a second-half surge to down Seton Hall, 73-58, at Prudential Center.

Montrezl Harrell had 14 points and Russ Smith added 11 with seven boards and five assists for the Cardinals (14-1, 2-0 Big East), who have won nine in a row.

"I think we're a very good offensive basketball team, but we needed to get better defensively," Louisville head coach Rick Pitino said. "We hadn't played well defensively until the second half tonight."

Brandon Mobley poured in 18 points, while Eugene Teague chipped in with 14 points and 10 rebounds for the Pirates (12-4, 1-2), who have lost two straight since a seven-game win streak.

Consecutive baskets from Kevin Ware made it 40-34 for the Cardinals early in the second half, but the Pirates countered to forge a 42-42 deadlock on a trey from Fuquan Edwin.

Luke Hancock ended a quick Louisville burst with a three-pointer to make it 52-44 with 8:04 remaining, and the Cardinals kept the pressure on, assuming a 15-point advantage when Wayne Blackshear connected from long distance to give the visitors a 63-48 spread with 4:06 to go.

Seton Hall was forced to foul and within the next two minutes, Louisville's lead grew to 67-50. The Pirates were never able to close the gap below double digits for the duration.

"This is a team game and we have a lot of guys who can score," said Siva. "It's definitely a good sign that we can win, because me and Russ didn't shoot well."

Harrell sank back-to-back buckets to give Louisville an early 10-5 edge, then a brief surge from the Pirates gave them a 16-14 lead on a Mobley jumper.

Peyton Siva's 3-point play pushed the Cardinals back in front by a 30-22 count, and the visitors' lead grew to as much as 35-26 on a Smith layup until Seton Hall closed out the half on an 8-1 surge to close within 36-34, thanks to Teague's easy bucket in the paint.

Game Notes

Louisville has won 12 of the 17 meetings between the teams ... Siva ended up with seven points and a game-high eight assists ... Teague committed a game- worst six of Seton Hall's 16 turnovers.