Pirates Fail to Hold Lead at Louisville, Fall 82-76
March 01, 2003 | Men's Basketball
By CHRIS DUNCAN
AP Sports Writer
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) -- Reece Gaines scored a season-high 30 points as No. 11 Louisville overcame the absence of its top two rebounders to beat East Carolina 82-76 on Saturday and snap a three-game losing streak.
Freshman Taquan Dean scored 17 points and freshman Francisco Garcia added 15 for the Cardinals (20-5, 10-4 Conference USA), who had lost two straight at home and were playing without Ellis Myles and Marvin Stone.
The 6-foot-8 Myles suffered a season-ending knee injury in Thursday's 78-73 loss to Marquette. The 6-10 Stone was held out by the school as the NCAA continues looking into his ties to his former AAU coach in Alabama.
Kendall Dartez and Luke Whitehead, with a combined five starts this season, replaced Stone and Myles in the starting lineup.
Derrick Wiley scored a career-high 29 points to lead East Carolina (12-14, 3-12), which lost for the 12th time in 14 games.
The Cardinals used fullcourt pressure from the opening tip, then dropped back into a 2-3 zone most of the game to mask their depleted frontcourt.
Louisville started 9-of-16 from the field and built a six-point lead. But Gaines picked up his second foul with 7:12 left in the first half and was benched by coach Rick Pitino.
The Cardinals didn't click on offense the rest of the first half, missing four of their last five shots.
Gaines returned at the start of the second half and the Cardinals reeled off 17 straight points.
The Pirates called a timeout 90 seconds into the half, but then threw the ball out of bounds on a set play. Gaines hit a jumper, then assisted on a 3-pointer by Garcia for a 43-36 lead.
The Cardinals' smothering press generated seven turnovers in the first 3:04 of the second half.
Gaines' 3-pointer from the top of the key with 16:33 left gave Louisville its biggest lead, 48-36.
The Pirates showed more patience on offense to climb back into the game. Wiley converted a three-point play with 9:06 left to cut Louisville's lead to 54-51.
The Cardinals led 68-62 when Gaines made a 3-pointer from the top of the key with 4:08 left. The basket gave Gaines 25 points, which moved him past Milt Wagner into fourth place on the school's all-time scoring list.
Garcia scored on a drive to push the lead to 11, but Travis Holcomb-Faye hit a jumper to start a 10-2 run by the Pirates.
Gabriel Mikulas hit a baseline shot with 1:41 left to trim the deficit to 75-72. Dartez and Gaines each hit a free throw over the next minute, and Gaines hit two more with 22 seconds left to put the game away.
