Cardinals Wrap Up Second Day of Competition in Puerto Rico
August 13, 2015 | Men's Basketball
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Game 1 Box 
Game 2 Box
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- Just like the previous night, the University of Louisville men's basketball team had its hands full on Wednesday against Puerto Rico's junior national team and the senior national team.
But on Wednesday night only one game was close. Puerto Rico's junior national team was able to hold off the Cardinals in the first game, winning 79-77. In the second game, Puerto Rico's national team looked sharp, dropping the Cardinals 96-62.
In the first game, freshmen Raymond Spalding and Donovan Mitchell shined. Spalding led the Cardinals with 19 points while Mitchell poured in 16 points. Mongok Mathiang led the Cardinals on the boards with 11 rebounds. Benito Santiago led the Puerto Rico junior national team with 30 points.
In the second game, sophomores Jaylen Johnson and Quentin Snider led the Cardinals. Johnson finished with 11 points and Snider finished with 10 points. Coming off a big scoring night on Tuesday, Damion Lee finished with nine points. Chinanu Onuaku led Louisville on the boards with seven rebounds. Angel Vassallo led the Puerto Rico national team with 21 points.
"I think they (Louisville) were worried more about the officiating than in playing basketball, and that takes you out of the game mentally," said UofL Coach Rick Pitino, who coached the Puerto Rico National Team while assistant coach Ralph Willard guided both Cardinal squads. Pitino is coaching the Puerto Ricans in two international events this summer, including the 10-team, 2015 FIBA Americas Championship in Mexico City, Mexico on Aug. 31-Sept. 12, where the top two teams qualify for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
"They learned a valuable lesson," said Pitino. "We've got a lot of tough road games and they can't worry about anything other than playing basketball. They're going to learn a lot from this."
The Cardinals will be back in action with single game on Thursday evening against the Puerto Rico National Team at Mario Morales Coliseum at 8 p.m. The Cardinals' remaining games will be broadcast live through Learfield Sports on WHAS Radio (840 AM) in Louisville. Additionally, barring any local complications, the games will be televised through a live stream with a simple production (not HD) on the UofL Athletics web site at www.GoCards.com/puertorico. A one-time, $9.95 fee will provide access to the games, which may be viewed live or on demand for a limited time following the live feed.
