EditorsNote: rewords fourth graf; fixes "Au'Diese" in next-to-last graf
Visiting Pittsburgh went through two long stretches without scoring, and Louisville's Jordan Nwora had 19 points in the top-ranked Cardinals' 64-46 win in an Atlantic Coast Conference game Friday night.
After letting a 14-point halftime lead dwindle to five points, Louisville (9-0, 2-0 ACC) went on a 13-0 run to take control of the game with a 60-42 lead with 4:39 left in regulation.
Pitt (7-3, 1-1) went scoreless for a stretch of 5:43 during Louisville's knockout run. The Panthers also went without scoring in the last 5:35 of the first half when the Cardinals built a 35-21 lead.
The Cardinals got 13 points and 11 rebounds from Malik Williams while Ryan McMahon added 11 points.
Williams had six points in the game-turning 13-0 run. Nwora had 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting in the second half.
Pitt's Xavier Johnson had a team-high 15 points and Eric Hamilton added 10.
The Panthers had only one turnover in the second half when Louisville started its 13-0 surge. They had five turnovers during the long scoreless stretch.
The Cardinals ended the first half on an 8-0 run with the Panthers missing their last seven shots.
Nwora had five points in that run. He led the Cardinals in scoring at halftime with seven points. Exhibiting its balance, all eight of the Louisville players who played in the first half scored.
Louisville shot 50 percent from the field and 52.9 percent from 3-point range in the half while Pitt shot 35.7 percent and attempted only four 3-pointers, making one.
The Panthers made three of their first four shots in the second half -- two of them by Hamilton -- to cut the deficit to 37-29 with 17:39 left in regulation.
After Nwora made a 3-pointer to put Louisville ahead 43-30 with 15:34 remaining, Pitt went on an 8-0 run behind a 3-pointer and a layup by Au'Diese Toney.
When the Cardinals ended their 3:39 scoring drought, their lead was 45-38 with 11:55 left.
--Field Level Media
