Louisville’s Jordan Nwora scores 37 in an 86-69 win at Boston College

The No. 6 Louisville Cardinals played up to their lofty ranking late in the second half and pulled out an 86-69 victory over Boston College on Wednesday night at Conte Forum.

The first place Cardinals improved to 18-3 overall and 9-1 in the ACC, their best start since joining the conference in 2014. BC fell to 10-11, 4-6 in league and play at North Carolina on Saturday.

Louisville Junior forward Jordan Nwora hit 11of-20 from the floor with seven treys for 37 points, two short of the Conte visitor record set twice by UConn’s Richard Hamilton in 1998 and 99.

Boston Celtics general manager and President of Basketball Operations Danny Ainge watched the game from courtside next to the out-of-town radio broadcast crew.

The Eagles improved free throw shooting wasn’t enough to slow a Cardinals rally in the opening minutes of the second half. Louisville scored three layups during in a 7-4 spurt to take a 52-47 lead into the first officials’ timeout.

The Cardinals scored two quick buckets on a floater by Dwayne Sutton and a transition dunk by Nwora to go up by seven with 15:10 on the clock. Nwora put the Cardinals up 65-54 with his seventh 3-point shot, prompting BC coach Jim Christian to call time out with 12:19 remaining.

BC remained competitive and cut the lead to 67-62 on a jumper and two free throws by guard Derryck Thornton with 8:35 to play. BC’s problems with the Cardinals zone defense resulted in single looks and turnovers, a combination Louisville exploited to go up 79-64 on consecutive treys by Samuell Williamson and Ryan McMahon with 4:47 remaining.

Christian devised a game plan heavy of screens and ball rotation and the Eagles executed it efficiently for most of the first half. Heath drained consecutive 3-balls to put the Eagles up 10-7 with 16:57 to play.

Junior guard Darius Perry tied the game with a corner trey, but the Eagles retaliated with 8-3 run to go up 18-13 on a Jairus Hamilton jumper at 15:01.

BC took its biggest lead of the half, 25-16, on a trifecta by Derryck Thornton with 12:04. Louisville countered with a 10-0 to take a 26-25 lead on two Nwora free throws with 8:49.

Nwora found his sweet spot off the key on the right side and drained three consecutive treys to but the Cardinals ahead 34-29. BC regained the lead with an 11-0 run to 41-39 with 3:37 to play.

The Cardinals outscored the Eagles 6-2 down the stretch to take 45-43 lead at the break. Nwora hit 7-of-9 from the floor with five treys for 21 points in the first half.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3aRHl32