By Price Hanna
The University of Louisville Men’s basketball team met the Manhattan College Jaspers last Wednesday night in the championship round of the inaugural Billy Minardi Classic. While the game saw poor officiating, especially in the second half, the Cardinals pulled ahead to beat Manhattan, 89-62.
The game started slow with over three minutes passing before either team made any field goal. With 16:29 to go in the first half, Louisville senior Reece Gaines’ first three-point field goal put the Cards on top 8-0. But Gaines wouldn’t be the Cards leading scorer as fans were so used to seeing.
University of Kentucky transfer, Marvin Stone would score 19 points to lead the Cards in scoring and to lead the Cards to his first victory in a Cardinal uniform.
U of L head coach Rick Pitino said, “For a first game he (Stone) did fine.”
But fine doesn’t really justify Stone first performance for U of L. He ended the first half with 11 points and five rebounds with one block and one steal.
The Cards went to the locker room with a comfortable 41-27 lead, as U of L scored 18 of those 41 points off Manhattan’s 14 turnovers.
As the second half started, the Jaspers cut U of L’s lead to 12 points as the Cardinals failed to convert on five trips down the court.
But this didn’t upset the fans nearly as much as the poor officiating.
Nearly all fans in attendance were yelling at the officials for not calling what they perceived as traveling and other fouls. Pitino said that the “referees were being fair”. He said that he told his players what the officials were calling and what they weren’t calling and that “it’s not inconsistent.”
As the half progressed, U of L’s lead was cut to just 10 points at the 12 minute mark. Then, the Cards went on an 8-0 run to put them back on top, 62-43 with 10 minutes to go in the game.
Stone had the crowd on their feet with 5:46 to go in the second half, not because of tremendous play, but because of a collision with a Jasper player. Nearly all 17,591 fans in attendance were looking on to see if Stone was alright, as the team doctor rushed onto the court. It turned out to be a simple cut above his left eye.
After the game, Pitino said the “fans are behind Stone 100%…(and) there’s no sympathy from me.” Pitino also said that Stone’s a smart player and was tired, so he just decided to lie on the court for a minute to catch his breath.
Stone would finish the game with 19 points and 11 rebounds for his first double-double since 1999.
U of L shot a measly 45.6% from the field, but an impressive 72.4% from the free throw line.
Stone hit 10 of 12 attempts from the free throw line as he and Freshman Francisco Garcia lead the Cards with three blocks each.
The Cards move to 5-1 on the year with Furman coming to Freedom Hall this Sunday.
