Nov. 25, 2011
Final Stats | Photo Gallery 
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Ohio Men's Basketball fought valiantly on the road this evening but fell to No. 7 Louisville, 59-54.
Ohio (3-1) made two comebacks in the second half, including erasing a nine-point deficit to tie it at 41 with 5:12 left after Walter Offutt scored twice down low before T.J. Hall hit a 3-pointer that had Louisville Head Coach Rick Pitino calling timeout.
Kyle Kuric missed a jumper for Louisville and D.J. Cooper hit a trey to give Ohio its first lead in more than 21 minutes, 46-43. After another Louisville miss, Cooper followed with a three-point play that left his freshman backcourt mate Stevie Taylor pointing to the sky in delight.
"When we got hit in the mouth, we did not flinch and stayed the course," Head Coach John Groce said. "I think that is why we were in position near the end but just couldn't close it out."
The Cardinals promptly battled back, putting together a 9-0 run to take a 55-51 lead. Kyle Kuric, who scored 16 points to lead UofL, hit a three-pointer in the corner, made a key steal and found Chris Smith for a layup on the fast break to give Louisville a 53-51 lead with 1:49 left.
After a dunk by Chane Behanan, Cooper hit a three-pointer to cut it to 55-54, but Hall and Cooper missed tries in the closing seconds that would've tied the game. Cooper finished with 16 points, all in the second half, to lead the Bobcat attack.
"We came in here and nobody gave us a chance," Cooper said. "We were able to do our thing. We got the lead but we weren't able to hold on. We just stuck with our system, trusted one another. There weren't many open shots, but we were able to knock down a few. Louisville, they were the best defensive team we have played."
Reggie Keely was impressive again in the paint for Ohio with 11 points and six rebounds, his third double-digit scoring contest of the season. Taylor added 10 points, going 4-of-7 from the field with two three-pointers.
"Coach Groce told us we strive for excellence. We didn't come here to play close. We are not into moral victories," said Keely. "I hope we can learn from this."
For the Bobcats, it was one of the better performances against Louisville's defense, which continues to hold opponents to an average of 46 points over the first five games.
"They are very hard to score against. I knew that coming in," Groce said. "I thought the key to the game would be our ability to get stops and rebound the ball. At the end of the day, if they asked me why I thought we got beat, I would have to say that it had to be the fact that they were plus eight on the glass."
Gorgui Dieng grabbed a career-high 16 rebounds to lead the Cards as Rick Pitino earned his 250th victory as Louisville's coach despite the result being in doubt until the final minute.
Ohio limited Louisville to 37 percent shooting from the field and 26 percent shooting from beyond the arc (5-of-19). The Cardinals attempted 22 free throws as opposed to eight for the visiting Bobcats.
The Bobcats return to action this Wednesday evening at Marshall. The contest will start at 7 p.m. in Huntington, W. Va.
