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University of Louisville
Saint Louis
No. 2 Louisville Falls At Saint Louis, 59-58
February 12, 2003 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 12, 2003
By R.B. FALLSTROM
AP Sports Writer
ST. LOUIS - Downtrodden Saint Louis came up with a victory to hang its season on.
Marque Perry scored five of his 25 points in the final 13 seconds and maneuvered inside for the game-winning layup with 3.2 seconds to go as Saint Louis upset second-ranked Louisville 59-58 on Wednesday night.
"It's so big I can't really explain it," Perry said. "Coach told us if we're real close at the end, you never know what can happen."
The Billikens (9-12, 3-7) were coming off a pair of road losses to middle-of-the-road Conference USA teams, making them an unlikely team to put an end to the nation's longest winning streak. They entered last in the conference's American Division, and in danger of not even making the postseason tournament.
"I would have been happy to beat Hazelwood Central (High School) tonight, because we really needed a win," coach Brad Soderberg said. "I'll go on record and say we outworked them."
This was Saint Louis' biggest win since a victory over top-ranked Cincinnati in the first round of the Conference-USA tournament in 2000, and the school did it despite 34 percent shooting, compensating by forcing 16 turnovers. Louisville (18-2, 8-1 C-USA) had won 17 in a row since a two-point loss to Purdue on Nov. 30 in the second game of the season, and coach Rick Pitino said the Cardinals' 14-for-20 showing at the free-throw line was the difference.
"They played a terrific game and stopped a streak we had a lot of fun with," Pitino said. "Now it's time to start a new streak."
 | They played a terrific game and stopped a streak we had a lot of fun with. Now it's time to start a new streak. Louisville coach Rick Pitino |
Reece Gaines had a season-high 28 points, five rebounds and three assists for the Cardinals, who have been beating their opponents by an average of 19 points. That also was the margin of victory in the first meeting between the teams at Louisville on Jan. 11, a 73-54 victory.
This was by far the lowest scoring total for Louisville, which is averaging 84 points, and had no other players in double figures. Center Marvin Stone, averaging 13 points, was scoreless in 30 minutes.
Chris Sloan and Josh Fisher added 11 points apiece for Saint Louis, which despite its problems has won five of six in the series. Sloan had one of the big plays in the waning minutes with a steal and dunk that cut the gap to 57-54 with 50.8 seconds left, and also hit a 3-pointer at the end of the half.
"Top to bottom, they're a lot more talented team than we are," Sloan said. "Hustling was going to be the difference to pull out a win."
Gaines' 3-pointer had given Louisville a 57-50 lead with 1:58 to go. But he struggled down the stretch, missing one of two free throws with 24.4 seconds to go and also being called for traveling and missing the front end of a bonus attempt in the final six minutes.
Perry scored on a drive and converted a three-point play with 13.2 seconds left to cut the gap to one. Then he tipped a long inbounds pass intended for Gaines to teammate Anthony Drejaj to set up the game-winner.
Gaines was hard off the backboard at the buzzer on a shot a few steps beyond the midcourt stripe.
"Everything's been falling our way and we won some games we should have lost," Pitino said. "Now this is a game we should have won and they made plays down the stretch. You can't gripe about it."
Saint Louis led 26-24 at halftime at Louisville before collapsing. The Billikens were in front at the break of the rematch also, using their usual patient offense to grind out a 30-27 lead, and led by as many as six points in the opening minutes of the second half.
Louisville's start was the best for the school since 1955-56, when the Cardinals began the season 19-1 on the way to a 26-3 record and NIT championship. The school record for consecutive victories is 18 in a row by the 1979-80 NCAA champions.
The Cardinals had won 17 straight in conference play and had been the only team in the country with one loss.
