NCAA1 Basketball
Sosa nails 25-footer with seconds left as Louisville bests Kentucky - Jan 5, 2009 (by Eurobasket News)
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- In the midst of a season on the verge of spinning out of control, Louisville coach Rick Pitino told enigmatic point guard Edgar Sosa (6'1''-G-88) maybe it would be best if the talented but troubled junior got a fresh start somewhere else.
Sosa told Pitino he just needed one more last chance in a career full of last chances. On Sunday, he backed it up with the biggest shot of his life.
Sosa's 25-footer with 2.
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- In the midst of a season on the verge of spinning out of control, Louisville coach Rick Pitino told enigmatic point guard Edgar Sosa (6'1''-G-88) maybe it would be best if the talented but troubled junior got a fresh start somewhere else.
Sosa told Pitino he just needed one more last chance in a career full of last chances. On Sunday, he backed it up with the biggest shot of his life.
Sosa's 25-footer with 2.8 seconds remaining lifted the 18th-ranked Cardinals to a 74-71 victory over archrival Kentucky and lifted the weight of great expectations off Sosa's slender shoulders.
'I know that I can play this game and I know of the things I'm capable of doing on the court,' Sosa said after scoring a season-high 18 points. 'Many people may think that 'Sosa don't got it no more' or that freshman year was just a fluke. But I know what I can do. It hasn't shown in the first half of the season, but hopefully it'll show in the second half.'
It's a second half that suddenly looks full of possibility for the Cardinals (9-3), one of the nation's biggest early season disappointments after losses to Western Kentucky, Minnesota and UNLV sent them tumbling from their lofty No. 3 preseason ranking.
Kentucky (11-4) nearly sent the Cardinals out of the polls entirely after a miraculous rally in the final 51 seconds.
Louisville seemed in control after Sosa made two free throws to give the Cardinals a 71-64 lead.
Kentucky's Jodie Meeks scored seven straight points on five free throws and a layup -- thanks to two careless turnovers by Louisville's Earl Clark -- to tie the game at 71 with 23 seconds left.
The Cardinals inbounded to Sosa, who dribbled calmly over halfcourt and waited for the clock to wind down. When it got to six seconds, he took two dribbles toward the basket and pulled up over Kentucky's Michael Porter. The shot was good all the way as Freedom Hall erupted.
Porter's last-second heave from 40 feet was off the mark, letting Louisville escape with its first home win over the Wildcats since 2002.
'I knew Sosa wasn't going to pass it,' Kentucky coach Billy Gillispie said. 'When you think about the entire possession and you get your choice of a 24-foot shot with no passes, you take your chances.'
It's a chance Gillispie had seen before. Sosa missed a last-second 3-pointer against Texas A&M -- coached by Gillispie at the time -- in the second round of the NCAA tournament two years ago.
Sosa, a freshman at the time, rushed the shot and missed badly. He didn't make the same mistake twice.
'You've got to give him credit for making a shot like that after all he has gone through,' Louisville guard Jerry Smith said. 'Nobody deserved to make it any more than he did.'
Pitino walked up to a group of reporters surrounding Sosa after the game and laughed while asking why Sosa suddenly became so popular.
'I am really happy for Edgar because it's been very difficult on him and he got an opportunity to be a hero, which he was,' Pitino said.
It's a scene that seemed unlikely after Sosa played his way into Pitino's doghouse over the last two seasons. The bottom came on New Year's Day, hours after Sosa had two points and four turnovers in a loss to the Runnin' Rebels.
Pitino suggested that maybe Sosa would be better off playing somewhere else. Sosa, who committed to Louisville without even seeing the campus, decided to stay because 'there's no place else I'd rather be.'
Meeks led the Wildcats with 28 points and Patrick Patterson added 22 points and 15 rebounds, but Kentucky had its six-game winning streak snapped thanks to a familiar culprit: turnovers. The Wildcats, who were averaging 18.2 turnovers a game, gave it away 21 times, including six by Meeks.
'I felt like it was kind of my fault the way we started,' Meeks said. 'But I thought we showed good composure coming back. Coach Gillispie told us during the timeouts that the game was far from over. They got up 10, 12, but this team has never lacked confidence. We feel like we're always going to win the game.'
The Cardinals used a 12-0 run, including a three-point play by Sosa, to go ahead 54-43. Williams hit a 3-pointer moments later to push it to 57-45 with 13:06 left.
Williams finished with 19 points and eight rebounds, Smith had 11 points, two assists and two blocks and Earl Clark added 10 points and eight rebounds as the Cardinals used their depth to offset Kentucky's two stars.
Patterson dominated his matchup with Louisville freshman center Samardo Samuels, who managed four points and a rebound in 11 foul-plagued minutes.
The Wildcats, however, were hardly taking solace in getting close. They were hoping a win over the Cardinals would signify their rise in Gillispie's second year. It'll have to wait until Southeastern Conference play starts on Saturday against Vanderbilt.
'There's no moral victories for us,' Porter said. 'Just because we came close that doesn't mean anything to us. It was hard, he made a really tough shot. What can you do really?'
Courtesy of http://www.sportsline.com
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Eagles shock Tar Heels - Jan 4, 2009 (by Kevin Cochran)
Tyrese Rice (6'1''-G-87) and Boston College put an end to all that talk of whether No. 1 North Carolina could go unbeaten.
Rice scored 25 points in his second straight big game against the Tar Heels to help the Eagles stun North Carolina 85-78 on Sunday, likely ending its run atop the early season polls.
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Tyrese Rice (6'1''-G-87) and Boston College put an end to all that talk of whether No. 1 North Carolina could go unbeaten.
Rice scored 25 points in his second straight big game against the Tar Heels to help the Eagles stun North Carolina 85-78 on Sunday, likely ending its run atop the early season polls.
Rakim Sanders added 22 points for the Eagles (13-2, 1-0), who led by six points at halftime and pushed the lead to as many as 15 before holding off a frantic rally from the Tar Heels (13-1, 0-1) in the Atlantic Coast Conference opener for both teams.
'We had to have the discipline in order to execute what it is we needed to do,' Boston College coach Al Skinner said. 'There were going to be breakdowns and there were, but guys were able to refocus and not compound those mistakes.'
Tyler Hansbrough scored 21 points to lead North Carolina, which shot 29 percent from the field in the second half and was just 15-for-27 at the foul line for the game.
North Carolina had won its first 13 games by an average of 26 points, with the closest margin being 15 points. But on this day, the Tar Heels looked out of sync against the Eagles' physical defense and had no answers for Rice, who burned them for 46 points last season.
In that game, North Carolina rallied from an 18-point second-half deficit for a 90-80 victory as Rice was the only BC player to reach double figures.
Rice again caused North Carolina plenty of trouble, though this time he had early help from Sanders along with a key contribution from Reggie Jackson (17 points) in the decisive run. There would be no blown lead this time, just the sight of the BC bench spilling onto the court in celebration as the horn sounded.
'Needless to say, it hurts,' North Carolina coach Roy Williams said. 'We just never could get over the hump, didn't get them to turn it over very much. Then we had some guys - including myself - who didn't have as good of a day that we hoped we'd have.'
Sanders scored 18 points in the first half, including a 3-pointer right in front of the North Carolina bench just before the horn that gave the Eagles a 46-40 lead. Then, after North Carolina closed the gap to two points four times, they answered with a spurt that had the Tar Heels chasing them the rest of the game.
First came a 3 from Joe Trapani. Then Jackson had a spinning score followed by a 3 of his own before capping a 12-2 run with a layup past Ellington that made it 70-58 with 10:09 to play.
Two possessions later, Trapani made an uncontested layup after a turnover by Will Graves that made it 74-60 with 9:22 left - capping a run of five straight scoring possessions.
The Tar Heels, meanwhile, just looked lost. Hansbrough struggled to consistently find space against Josh Southern and frequent double-teams. Frontcourtmate Deon Thompson, who came in averaging 14 points per game, was a no-show and sat on the bench while Graves earned his minutes late. And no one seemed able to make a big shot when the Tar Heels desperately needed one, most notably when they missed three open 3s on one possession in the final 3 minutes.
North Carolina hung in the game with a frantic defensive effort in the final minutes and whittled the lead to 82-78 on a free throw from Hansbrough with 46.2 seconds left, but got no closer. Rice went 3-for-4 at the line in the final 30 seconds to seal the win.
Rice finished 7-for-13 from the field and had eight assists with five rebounds to outperform counterpart Ty Lawson, who had 10 points on 3-for-13 shooting.
Ellington had 16 points, while Thompson had five points on 2-for-6 shooting for the Tar Heels.
Courtesy: Tarheelblue.cstv.com
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Eagles fly over Wildcats - Jan 2, 2009 (by Kevin Cochran)
Just before taking the court for the conference opener against No. 15 Villanova, Marquette coach Buzz Williams gave his players a reminder: Their seniors have never started 2-0 in the Big East.
One down, one to go.
Jerel McNeal (6'3''-G-87) scored 24 points, including a critical 3-pointer down the stretch that helped power the Golden Eagles to a 79-72 victory over the Wildcats on Thursday.
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Just before taking the court for the conference opener against No. 15 Villanova, Marquette coach Buzz Williams gave his players a reminder: Their seniors have never started 2-0 in the Big East.
One down, one to go.
Jerel McNeal (6'3''-G-87) scored 24 points, including a critical 3-pointer down the stretch that helped power the Golden Eagles to a 79-72 victory over the Wildcats on Thursday. Marquette (12-2, 1-0 Big East) has another home game Sunday against Cincinnati, giving the Golden Eagles a shot at their first fast start to conference play.
'It's huge,' Wesley Matthews (6'5''-G-86) said. 'We've never started out 2-0. Buzz had told us that--the last thing he said to us in the locker room. This is a tough conference. Wins are tough to get by.'
Especially against a ranked opponent known for its defense.
'I think they're one of the better defenses in the country, actually,' McNeal said.
Coming into Thursday's game, Villanova (12-2, 0-1) was allowing 57.6 points and holding opponents to 37.9 percent shooting from the field. Marquette shot 46 percent on Thursday, including 41.7 percent from 3-point range.
Matthews scored 19 and Dominic James (5'11''-G-86) added 17.
'We just played a very good team with great veteran guards,' Villanova coach Jay Wright said. 'Those guys are fun to watch, and they just controlled the game. Veteran guards win in college basketball, and those guys were big-time.'
Lazar Hayward (6'6''-F-86) added 15, giving the Golden Eagles four double-digit scorers against one of the Big East's best defensive teams. Hayward has scored 14 points or more in Marquette's last six games.
Villanova forced 19 turnovers, tying Marquette's season high.
'Part of that was our fault,' Williams said. 'Most of that was because of how good Villanova is, but that's out of character for us.'
But the Golden Eagles committed only six turnovers in the second half as their offense took over.
McNeal's 3-pointer with 3:55 remaining capped a 7-0 run by Marquette, giving the Golden Eagles an eight-point lead that Villanova couldn't chip away in the closing minutes.
With Marquette leading by 1 point and 5:39 left, the decisive run began with a long jumper by Matthews to put Marquette ahead 61-58. Dante Cunningham (6'8''-F-87) then was called for traveling under the basket, handing the ball back to the Golden Eagles.
Matthews then drained a long turnaround jumper, pumping his fist as he extended the lead to 63-58.
'He was a little bit quiet up to that point,' McNeal said. 'after he got that first shot, and the second one, we knew he was rolling.'
Matthews scored 16 points in the second half, saying he was waiting for the game to come to him.
'It took longer than I thought it would, but it came,' Matthews said.
James then drew a charge on Fisher and McNeal hit a 3-pointer, putting Marquette up 66-58 with 3:55 left.
Villanova later had the ball and was trailing by 7 with just under two minutes left when Hayward grabbed a loose ball in traffic and Matthews hit two free throws on the other end.
The Golden Eagles have struggled with their free throw shooting at times this season, but hit 13 of 14 in the final 2:40 on Thursday.
'It's just getting up there and knocking them down,' Matthews said.
Corey Fisher (6'1''-G-88) scored 21 for the Wildcats, who held each of their first 13 opponents to 68 points or less.
It was the second straight big game for Fisher, who tied his career high of 23 points in Villanova's win over Temple on Monday. Fisher had scored only 17 in his previous four games.
'I came out tonight being more aggressive, just taking open shots, looking for my teammates,' Fisher said. 'I just kept trying to score.'
Cunningham added 16 points and eight rebounds.
'It comes down to getting stops at the end of the game,' Cunningham said. 'You've got to know where the other person is going, or they are going to score on you. You have to get stops, you have to be tough.'
Villanova struggled from outside, hitting only 6 of 20 from 3-point range.
In all, there were plenty of signs that Marquette is ready for the Big East grind.
'We're definitely excited,' Matthews said. 'That'll take away some of the aches and pains--it's just adrenalin, being ready to play. We were excited today. I think it showed.'
Courtesy: Villanova.cstv.com
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Mountaineers Maul Buckeyes - Dec 28, 2008
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Devendorf returns to Orange - Dec 28, 2008
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Huskies slam Stags - Dec 26, 2008
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Attorney asking for Kennedy lawsuit to be dismissed - Dec 26, 2008
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Blazers lose 3 to academic woes - Dec 26, 2008
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Wolfpack lose shooting guard - Dec 26, 2008
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Texas earns tough road win at Wisconsin - Dec 26, 2008
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Portland State shocks Gonzaga - Dec 26, 2008
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Foreign legion changing face of U.S. hoops - Dec 26, 2008
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Miami (Ohio) PG Kenny Hayes out for the year - Dec 25, 2008
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7-footer Jeff Withey transfers to KU from Arizona - Dec 25, 2008
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No Devendorf No Problem - Dec 21, 2008
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No. 1 Tar Heels top Evansville on historic night - Dec 19, 2008
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St. Mary's tops Oregon 78-73 - Dec 18, 2008
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Wildcats upset #4 Zags - Dec 14, 2008
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AJ ABRAMS IS HE A NBA PLAYER? - Dec 14, 2008
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UCLA COACH BEN HOWLAND GETS WIN NUMBER 300 - Dec 14, 2008
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