NCAA Game Summary - Louisville at Tennessee

Knoxville, TN (Basketball News) - Francisco Garcia scored 24 points and keyed a big run midway through the second half, as fifth-ranked Louisville rallied for a 65-62 victory over Tennessee at Thompson-Boling Arena.

Luke Whitehead chipped in 13 points for the Cardinals (15-1), who have won 15 straight since a season-opening overtime loss against Iowa.

Tennessee (10-5) has lost three in a row and four of its last five. It was also the third straight narrow loss to the Cardinals, as Tennessee fell by three last January and by one in December 2001.

Brandon Crump scored 16 points to lead the Volunteers, while C.J. Watson added 15 and Scooter McFadgon contributed 10.

Garcia was 9-of-20 from the field, but injured his left ankle late in the game. The Cardinals also played most of the contest without star guard Taquan Dean, who was bothered by a groin injury and was scoreless in nine minutes in the first half before hitting a couple of clutch free throws in the closing seconds.

Louisville trailed most of the contest and fell behind 43-36 with just under 12 minutes to play. The Cardinals answered with 12 straight points to take the lead for good.

Garcia ignited the run with a layup, added a pair of free throws midway through and capped it with another layup to give Louisville a 48-43 advantage with 8 1/2 minutes left.

A three-point play by McFadgon pulled Tennessee within two, but the Cardinals followed with an 8-2 run to open some breathing room. A free throw by Whitehead gave Louisville a 56-48 edge with just under five minutes remaining.

Tennessee couldn’t get close until the final minute when Louisville struggled at the free throw line.

After Brandon Jenkins missed two from the stripe with 29 seconds left, Justin Albrecht drained a long three-pointer to pull the Vols within 62-59 with 23 seconds to play.

Dean then entered the contest cold, but was fouled on the inbound pass and hit two from the line.

McFadgon followed with a three-pointer to make it a two-point game and two questionable calls gave Louisville the chance to seal it at the line.

First, the inbound pass was swatted away and the call went in Louisville’s favor. Then, Garcia caught the next inbound pass and appeared to slip out of bounds. The official, though, called a foul and Garcia went to the line to hit one free throw for a 65-62 edge.

The Tennessee inbound pass was picked off by Whitehead to end the game.

The Vols built a 28-26 lead at intermission and started the second half with a 7-3 run. Watson scored five during the spurt and McFadgon capped it with a pair of free throws, giving Tennessee a 35-29 edge.

Louisville answered with a 7-2 burst and pulled within 37-36 on a dunk by Otis George with 14 minutes remaining.

Tennessee responded with six straight easy points — two dunks and a layup — to gain its biggest lead of the night at 43-36 with just under 12 minutes to play.

The opening minutes of the first half were close until Tennessee scored five straight points to open a 13-7 edge.

Louisville pulled within one moments later, as a three-pointer by Garcia made it a 17-16 game. Watson answered with a three-pointer for Tennessee, and the Vols opened a 28-22 edge on a pair of free throws by Crump late in the half.

Larry O’Bannon answered with a three-point play and the Cardinals turned a Vols turnover into a free throw by George to pull within 28-26 at the break.

McFadgon, the SEC’s leading scorer, was just 1-for-8 from the field in the first half. He finished the game just 3-of-15.