Jan. 10, 2009
Box Score | Notes
PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Terrence Williams scored on a drive with 7.4 seconds left to give No. 23 Louisville the lead, and No. 18 Villanova missed two shots down low in the final seconds as the Cardinals held on for a 61-60 victory Saturday.
Earl Clark had 16 points and 11 rebounds for Louisville (11-3, 2-0 Big East), which won its third straight after losing two of three.
Dante Cunningham had 21 points for the Wildcats (13-3, 1-2), who only led twice in the game, the last time at 60-59 on a free throw by Cunningham with 27 seconds left.
The Cardinals ran down the clock until Williams, who had 10 points and 14 rebounds, scored on a drive among three Villanova players.
Antonio Pena of Villanova was fouled with 4.9 seconds left and he missed both free throws as the Wildcats went 6-for-14 from the line over the final 8 1/2 minutes.
The second miss went out of bounds off Clark so Villanova got the ball under the basket with 4 seconds left. Reggie Redding threw a lob pass into Cunningham, who missed from in close, then grabbed the rebound but he missed from just off to the side as the buzzer sounded.
The poor free throw shooting was out of the ordinary for Villanova, which entered the game leading the Big East at 72.2 percent and off having made its last 18 in a row in an overtime win over Seton Hall on Tuesday.
Pena, who came in shooting 69.6 percent from the line, made one of six free throws over the final 4:43, including missing three of four in the last 47 seconds.
The teams came in ranked in the top five in the conference in 3-point shooting. Villanova, fourth at 36.3 percent, finished 2-for-8 from behind the arc, while Louisville, which was shooting 35.5 coming in, was 3-for-25 with the starting backcourt of Edgar Sosa and Jerry Smith combining to go 1-for-11.
Louisville held an 11-point lead in each half, going up 47-36 with 13:12 to go on a jumper by Clark.
Villanova used a 13-3 run to get its first lead of the game, 58-57, on a side jumper with Cunningham with 3:11 left.
Scottie Reynolds, coming off a 40-point outing against Seton Hall, had 11 points for Villanova.
