Cardinals soar past Bulls 71-57
TAMPA (AP) – Earl Clark scored 22 points and No. 23 Louisville shut down South Florida during a crcuial eight-minute stretch of the second half to pull away to a 71-57 victory in the Cardinals’ Big East opener Wednesday night.
Taking up the slack with leading scorer Samardo Samuels on the bench in foul trouble much of the game, Clark made 8 of 18 shots and finished with a team-leading nine rebounds. Edgar Sosa added 12 points for the Cardinals (10-3, 1-0).
Dominique Jones led South Florida (5-9, 0-2) with 11 points, but missed 9 of 10 shots from the field and was not on the floor at the end when Bulls reserves scored 10 points in the final 1:03 to make the final score look a little more respectable.
The Cardinals entered the conference opener on an emotional high after beating Kentucky 74-71 on Sosa’s long three-pointer in the closing seconds Sunday. They’ve won eight straight over South Florida and lead the series between the former Conference USA members 22-3.
With Samuels and Terrence Williams on the bench with two fouls, Louisville rode a 19-4 run to a 28-15 lead. USF whittled its deficit to 32-26 at the half, but the closest the Bulls got after the break was five.
USF has dropped eight of its last 10 games and drooped to 8-76 all-time against ranked opponents.
Augustus Gilchrist came off the bench to score 11 points for USF.