McMahon’s aggressiveness gives Cardinals huge victory
TOP 25/SEC MEN
LOUISVILLE 82,
NO. 9 MICHIGAN STATE 78, OT
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — No matter what line he shot from behind against No. 9 Michigan State, Louisville junior guard Ryan McMahon was feeling it.
The Cardinals fed off his energy to not only give firstyear Coach Chris Mack a significant victory, but a gutsy one at that.
McMahon made two free throws with 7.1 seconds remaining in overtime before Jordan Nwora made another from the line with 3.1 seconds left to seal it as Louisville upset the Spartans 82-78 on Tuesday night in the ACC/ Big Ten Challenge.
McMahon scored all seven of his points in the extra session from the foul line to finish with a career-high 24. Highlighting that total was 12-of-13 free throw shooting and four three-pointers to top his previous best of 15 points last tied in January against Pittsburgh. He missed his one two-point attempt, but that was forgotten as he converted frequent opportunities at the line.
“I would say it’s being aggressive,” McMahon said. “It really helps when I’m knocking down shots, too, because then guys have to play me a little bit tighter, they’ve got to run out at me a bit longer and I can get a step on them and cause help to come over or the guy on me has to foul me.”
Nwora’s clinching free throw followed his 3-pointer with 2:05 left that gave the Cardinals (4-2) the lead for good in an exciting matchup that ended a two-game slide and followed a 77-74 overtime loss to Marquette on Friday in Brooklyn, New York. This one didn’t slip away. “We didn’t let those negative thoughts creep in our mind,” Mack said. “I’m sure they were there and we were tough enough and showed the fortitude to get the job done against a really good team.”
Louisville needed just about every point to hold off the Spartans (5-2), who had a chance to get close with Joshua Langford (15 points) at the line. But he missed the first of two free throws with 4.2 seconds left and failed to hit the rim on an intentional miss, a violation that gave Louisville the ball and led to Nwora’s free throw.
“It was a game of inches,” said Michigan State Coach Tom Izzo, whose team committed 17 turnovers leading to 18 Louisville points. “We just did some things that weren’t good enough to win. It’s a game of inches and we didn’t value the inches. Give them credit, they hit some shots and made some plays. We just made some uncharacteristic ridiculous plays.”
In other Top 25 games Tuesday, Zion
Williamson scored 25 points, RJ Barrett added 22 and No. 3 Duke (6-1) routed Indiana (5-2) 90-69 in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge in Durham, N.C. … Caleb Martin had 21 points, twin brother Cody Martin scored 20 and No. 5 Nevada (7-0) beat Loyola-Chicago (4-3) 79-65 in an NCAA
Tournament rematch in Chicago . ... Myreon Jones scored 13 of his 18 points in the second half to lead Penn State (4-2) to a 63-62 victory over No. 13 Virginia Tech (5-1) in State College, Pa .. ... Freshman
guard Joe Wieskamp had 18 points and 11 rebounds, Nicholas Baer scored 14 of his 16 points in the second half and 14thranked Iowa (6-0) held off Pittsburgh (6-1) 69-68 in Iowa City, Iowa. … Ethan Happ had 19 points and 11 rebounds, D’Mitrik Trice hit a long jumper with 23.6 seconds left and No. 22 Wisconsin (6-1) withstood North Carolina State’s defense to rally for a 79-75 victory in Madison,
Wis. Markell Johnson had 21 points to lead N.C. State (6-1).
SEC MEN Georgia dominates
Sophomore Nicolas Claxton scored 16 points and claimed a career-high 15 rebounds in Georgia’s 84-51 victory over in-state foe Kennesaw State in Athens, Ga.
Rayshaun Hammonds added 14 points for Georgia (4-3). Jordan Harris came off the bench to score 10. Kennesaw State (1-7) got 12 points from Ugo Obineke, 11 from Tyler Hooker and 10 from Bryson Lockley.
In other SEC games Tuesday, Noah Locke scored a career-high 18 points, Deaundrae Ballard added 15 and Florida (4-3) handled North Florida (2-5) 98-66 in Gainesville, Fla. … Freshman Aaron
Nesmith enjoyed career highs of 20 points and 13 rebounds, and Vanderbilt (5-1) played its first full game without star point guard Darius Garland in a 120-85 rout of Savannah State (3-6) in Nashville, Tenn. It was the most points scored by the Commodores since scoring a school-record 130 against Ole Miss in 1970. … Quinton Rose scored 18 points to lead four Temple players with 10 or more points as the Owls improved to 6-1 with a 79-77 victory over Missouri in Columbia, Mo.
Mark Smith scored a game-high 19 points in the loss for the Tigers (3-3).
SWAC MEN CINCINNATI 105, ARKANSAS-PINE BLUFF 49
Justin Jenifer scored 13 points, Keith Williams added 12, and six Cincinnati Bearcats reached double figures as they set a season high for scoring while flattening the University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff in Cincinnati on Tuesday night. Trevon Scott and Cane Broome each scored 11 points for Cincinnati (6-1), which easily extended its winning streak to six games before a crowd of 8,513. Trevor Banks, Terrance Banyard and Cameron Posey each scored eight points to lead UAPB (2-5). Golden Lions’ guard Martaveous McKnight, who went into the week ranked fourth in the country with an average of 28.0 points per game, finished with a season-low seven, going 2 of 11 from the field.
SUN BELT WOMEN ARKANSAS STATE 74, MURRAY STATE 63
players to Arkansas overcome score Evelyn State 10 or University Adebayo’s more points game-high had Tuesday three 18 points as the Red Wolves defeated the Racers at First National Bank Arena in Jonesboro. The Red Wolves (2-4) shot 41.7 percent (26 of 60) from the floor, including 7-of-16 shooting behind the three-point line. They were outrebounded 42-39, but the Red Wolves held a 28-18 advantage in points in the lane and turned 23 turnovers into 12 points while outscoring the Racers’ bench 36-8. Akasha Westbrook led ASU with 12 points and 8 rebounds, while Peyton Martin and Starr Taylor added 10 points each. Macey Turley had 15 points for Murray State (3-2), and Lex Mayes chipped in with 13.