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Sosa, Louisville cruise past Marquette

Feb 5, 2008 - 4:56 AM MILWAUKEE (Ticker) -- Louisville continues to have Marquette's number in Big East play.

Edgar Sosa had 14 of his 18 points in the first half and Jerry Smith added 12 as Louisville dominated the 16th-ranked Golden Eagles, 71-57, on Monday.

Earl Clark added 11 points and seven rebounds for the Cardinals, who have won four of the five meetings with Marquette since joining the conference at the start of the 2005-06 season.

Louisville (17-6, 7-3 Big East), which had defeated Marquette, 71-51, on January 17, was also the last visiting team to have won at the Bradley Center coming into the game.

The Golden Eagles (16-5, 6-4) had won all 12 home games this season and 14 straight overall since Smith made a buzzer-beating 3-pointer in last season's 61-59 victory for Louisville.

But Louisville would not need any last-second heroics in this one, as they took control immediately and led from start to finish.

Led by Sosa's five quick points, the Cardinals jumped out to a 10-2 advantage less than three minutes into the game.

Louisville led by at least four the rest of the way, and by as many as 13 in the first half. Sosa had the final eight Cardinals points to help Louisville take a 34-22 lead at intermission, and shot 5-of-6 from the floor, including 3-of-4 from the arc in the opening 20 minutes.

As a team, Louisville was 14-of-24 (58 percent) from the floor in the first half.

The Golden Eagles scored the first four points of the second half to close within eight, but Smith made a pair of 3-pointers and Derrick Caracter converted a three-point play to help push Louisville's lead up to 43-29 with 14:34 to play.

The Cardinals maintained their double-digit lead the rest of the way and pushed the bulge to as large as 70-47 on a pair of Sosa free throws with 2:13 remaining.

Louisville shot 51 percent (23-of-45) compared to just 32 percent (16-of-50) for Marquette.

Wesley Matthews had 15 points and Jerel McNeal added 11 to pace the Golden Eagles, who had their three-game winning streak snapped.

Leading scorer Dominic James played just 18 minutes due to flu-like symptoms. The junior point guard came off the bench and scored eight points on 3-of-9 shooting.