{{pageModel.leagueAbbr}} {{pageModel.subtitle}} | Las Vegas Review-Journal
National Basketball Association
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Louisville 88, Temple 66
When: 9:00 PM ET, Thursday, February 27, 2014
Where: KFC Yum! Center, Louisville, Kentucky
Officials: # Roger Ayers, # Bryan Kersey, # Ted Valentine
Attendance: 21312

No. 4 Louisville 88, Temple 66:
Russ Smith scored 24 points and collected four steals as the host Cardinals cruised to their seventh straight win and moved into a tie atop the American Athletic Conference.

Montrezl Harrell had 21 points and Terry Rozier came off the bench to produce 19 for Louisville (24-4, 13-2 AAC), which shot 53.3 percent. Chris Jones finished with eight assists and also had four steals as the Cardinals routed the Owls for the second time in less than two weeks.

Will Cummings scored 18 points and Quenton DeCosey had 17 for Temple (7-20, 2-13), which has lost 20 games for the first time in school history. Leading scorer Dalton Pepper was held to 10 points, making 1-of-6 3-pointers.

Smith scored nine points in a game-opening 13-2 run and a jumper by Rozier made it 24-6 just 7:07 in. Temple crawled to within 42-29 at the break and two DeCosey free throws in the first minute of the second half made it an 11-point margin.

Luke Hancock and Rozier hit 3-pointers moments later before Harrell had a dunk in transition to make it 53-35 with less than 16 minutes to go. Harrell threw down another slam for a 60-41 advantage and Louisville cruised from there, securing its fourth win by more than 20 points in its last five games.

GAME NOTEBOOK:
Temple F Anthony Lee, the AAC's leading rebounder, sat for the third time in the last four games due to a knee injury. ... The Owls had one assist and nine turnovers in the first half. ... Hancock and Rozier both went 3-for-4 beyond the arc, while Temple was 4-for-19 as a team.
Top Game Performances
 
Temple   Louisville
Will Cummings 18 Scoring Russ Smith 24
Devontae Watson 3 Assists Chris Jones 8
Mark Williams 7 Rebounds Wayne Blackshear 6
Will Cummings 5 Free Throws Made Russ Smith 7
Will Cummings 5 Steals Chris Jones 4
Josh Brown 1 Blocks Montrezl Harrell 2
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
Temple 66 42.1 4-19 14-16 9 33 3 7 17
Louisville 88 53.3 8-20 16-23 17 32 5 13 9