El Ellis scored 14 of his 18 points in the second half and Louisville held on for a 75-72 victory over visiting Pitt on Wednesday that kept the Cardinals undefeated in Atlantic Coast Conference play.
Ellis, whose jumper with 3:33 left gave the Cardinals a 65-63 lead they wouldn’t relinquish, shot 6-for-10 from the floor and 2-for-4 from beyond the arc.
Noah Locke scored 10 of his 13 points in the first half, and Matt Cross and Samuell Williamson added nine points apiece for the Cardinals (10-4, 4-0 ACC), who won their third straight game. Sydney Curry added eight points and grabbed a game-high eight rebounds.
Pitt (5-9, 0-3) was led by Jamarius Burton’s game-high 21 points and six rebounds, with Mouhamadou Gueye adding 15 points and Ithiel Horton chipping in 13. John Hugley had 11 points and seven rebounds.
Trailing 48-46 with a little over 12 minutes remaining, Pitt went on a 10-3 run to take a 56-51 lead on Hugley’s jumper.
The Cardinals countered with a 12-5 lead to take a 63-61 lead on Ellis’ 3-pointer from the right wing with 5:11 remaining before Pitt tied the game on its next possession on Gueye’s dunk.
Louisville took the lead for good two possessions later on Ellis’ jumper for a 65-63 advantage. Ellis added two free throws after the Panthers turned the ball over on their ensuing possession.
Locke’s 3-pointer pushed the lead to 72-65 with 47 seconds remaining, but Pitt pulled to within 74-72 following Burton’s 3-pointer with 7.6 seconds remaining before Jarrod West hit a free throw with 5.2 seconds left.
Burton missed a game-tying 3-pointer as time expired.
While each team made 10 field goals in the first half, Louisville shot 13-for-18 from the free-throw line compared to Pitt’s 8-for-12 to help it take a 35-32 lead at halftime.
The Panthers were carried in the first half by Horton, who scored 13 points on 5-for-6 shooting and 3-for-4 from beyond the arc. The rest of the team shot a combined 5-for-19 from the field and 1-for-7 from long range.
–Field Level Media
