By P K Bartley
The University of Louisville men’s basketball team played their last regular season game on Saturday afternoon against Charlotte. After playing an entire season of exciting games in Freedom Hall the Cardinals looked as if they saved the best for last by pulling out a thrilling 90-88 overtime win over the Charlotte 49ers.
The game started off well for the Cards as guard Bryant Northern hit the first shot, a three to put U of L up 3-0. Then the Cards got another basket to go to 5-0 on the 49ers. After that the 49ers hit two shots to make the score 5-4 in Cards favor. The two teams then began to trade baskets.
Then at about the 10:00 minute mark the Cards went on a run that put them by 10, 25-15.
U of L was able to push their lead up to 12 and it looked like the Cards were going to pull away. However the 49ers would not go away and they went on a 10-0 run to cut the lead to four 31-27.
U of L hit two free throws to make the score 33-27, but the 49ers got two quick baskets to make the score 33-31. After that the Cards got one more basket to make the score 35-31 at halftime.
The second half got off to a fast start with both teams making shots. U of L went up 37-31 early in the second half but the 49ers stormed right back with a three to make the score 37-34. U of L then hit one free throw to make the score 38-34. The 49ers then hit two baskets in a row to tie the game at 38.
From that point the game went back and forth with neither team getting a big lead. The 49ers took their first lead of the game at about the 13:15 mark 48-47.
Throughout the second half the Cards played good defense but had trouble stopping the 49ers’ Jobey Thomas. Thomas was simply on fire scoring 19 points in the second half and 27 in the game.
“It is not easy to catch the ball and turn around in a split second and make a shot,” U of L head coach Rick Pitino said about Thomas “This young man does it all of the time on every film we watch.”
U of L was able to get the lead back after a three from O’Bannon to make the score 50-48. But the 49ers tied the game at 50 and after that they went up by four 54-50 which forced Pitino to call a timeout.
After the time out, Northern came out and hit a big three closing the gap to one at 54-53.
Next it was forward Luke Whitehead’s turn as he made a steal and took it down the court for a dunk to make the score 55-54 U of L.
“He (Whitehead) played big tonight” said Pitino “he had really excellent steals.”
But once again the Charlotte came back and took the lead again on a three by Thomas 57-55. U of L was unable to make a basket and the 49ers got the ball back and made another three to make the score 60-55.
But then U of L came roaring back to tie the game at 60.
The 49ers and Cards then begin to make big play after big play. With 1:39 left, U of L was down by one 76-75 when Whitehead went to the line for two free throws. He hit them both to put the Cards up by one. Neither of the teams could make a basket on their next possessions, and with only 37 seconds left, the 49ers Cam Stephens hit a two pointer to give the 49ers a one point lead 78-77.
After that the Cards came down the court and guard Reece Gaines missed a three. The 49ers got the rebound and the Cards were forced to foul. Thomas hit the two free throws to put the 49ers up by three with just 22 seconds left in the game.
A Northern missed a three pointer led to a Whitehead rebound and he put the ball in for two and got fouled on the play. Whitehead hit the free throw to tie the game at 80 with five seconds left.
The 49ers came down and took a shot and Whitehead was there to block it. The 49ers got the rebound and then Stephens made a two pointer at the buzzer and the Charlotte team raced onto the court in celebration.
However, with one referee ruling that the shot was late the officials were forced to review the play on a television monitor to see if Stevens had gotten the ball off before time ran out. After several long tense minutes the referee said that Stephens did not get the shot off in time so the game went to overtime.
“I heard the horn. I really did,” said Pitino “but then when they all started saying it’s close… then I started to worry. They had to slow down the frames to fractions. That’s how close it was.”
The U of L players were also worried that the shot was good. “The whole game we were playing very hard and for it to come down to that decision,” said Whitehead. “We were over there wondering if we were going to play overtime or not.”
In overtime things did not start off well for the Cards as the 49ers jumped out to an 84-80 lead.
Then Gaines hit two free throws to cut the Cards deficit to two 84-82.
At that point the 49ers were fouled and hit one of two free throws to make the score 85-82. Whitehead made a two pointer at the other end to make the score 85-84. Whitehead then got a steal and Gaines was fouled.
Gaines hit two free throws to give U of L the lead 86-85.
The 49ers came down and hit a three to make the score 88-86.
But then the Cards went down and got a basket from Whitehead to tie the game at 88.
The 49ers looking to win the game raced down the court but had their shot blocked by Joseph N’sima who also got a steal after the 49ers got the ball back on a rebound.
Pitino then called for a time out with 23 seconds left in the game. After the timeout the Cards played for the last shot.
O’Bannon got the ball and took it to make the game winning two pointer with 1.8 seconds left on the clock and Charlotte did not get a shot off before the buzzer.
“Bryant was holding the ball at the top of the key and he called my name and passed me the ball,” said O’Bannon. “I was trying to get the ball to Reece and I couldn’t get Reece the ball with six seconds left so I looked at coach and he said go, so I went and made the shot.”
“This is just a great win,” said Whitehead. “This is one of the best wins I have ever been involved in.”
Next up for the Cards is Conference USA tournament.
