Temple Defense Stifles Louisville

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Louisville was held to its lowest point total in 16 years as Temple smothered the No. 9 Cardinals 67-44 Sunday in Philadelphia behind Marc Jackson’s 20 points and 14 rebounds.

It was just the third time in 10 seasons the Cardinals (18-3) failed to score 50 points, the first since a 53-48 loss to Temple during the 1994-95 season. Since Denny Crum took over as coach in 1971, the only time Louisville scored fewer points was in a 42-31 victory over Cincinnati on March 7, 1981.

The Owls (12-6) are always a tough matchup with their 2-3 zone and this game was no exception. They held Louisville to 26-percent shooting (7 of 27) in taking a 22-15 halftime lead, holding the Cardinals to their lowest point total in a half this season.

The Cardinals finished 19 of 63 from the field (30 percent), including 3 for 29 from 3-point range.

Illinois 78, (17) Indiana 74

At Bloomington, Ind., Kiwane Garris scored 28 points, including seven free throws in the final minute, as the Illini survived a big Indiana comeback and beat the Hoosiers.

Indiana (17-6, 4-5 Big Ten) trailed 46-34 early in the second half but fought back to take the lead. The Hoosiers led for the final time with 7 minutes to go, but Kevin Turner’s 3-pointer put the Illini (15-6, 5-4) in front for good at 66-65. Indiana then fell behind by seven only to close within a point in the final minute.

Garris, who moved past Eddie Johnson into second place on the Illini scoring list with 1,706, made two free throws to give Illinois a 73-66 lead with 59 seconds remaining. Andrae Patterson’s hook and Neil Reed’s 3-pointer pulled the Hoosiers to 73-71 with 47 seconds to go, but Garris made 1 of 2 from the line.

Reed’s two free throws with 15 seconds left closed it to 74-73. One second later, Garris sank two free throws to keep Illinois safely ahead.

(12) Duke 70, Georgia Tech 61

Trajan Langdon scored 17 points and held Georgia Tech’s Matt Harpring in check with his defense despite giving away 4 inches, and the Blue Devils defeated the slumping Yellow Jackets in Durham, N.C.

Duke (17-5, 6-3 Atlantic Coast Conference) moved into a secondplace ACC tie with No. 5 Maryland and No. 7 Clemson heading into their Wednesday night showdown with No. 2 and league-leading Wake Forest.

The Yellow Jackets (8-11, 2-7), the defending ACC regular-season champions, fell to 0-7 this season against ranked opponents. Dating back to last season’s ACC tournament, Georgia Tech is winless in its last nine games against top 25 teams.