Freshman again leads Louisville

Samuels dominates with dunks, layups

Freshman Samardo Samuels was dominant for the second straight night, scoring 24 points Sunday to lead third-ranked Louisville to an 81-54 victory over South Alabama in the final of the Billy Minardi Classic in Louisville, Ky.

Samuels hit his first eight shots from the field -- all of them either dunks or layups in traffic -- and grabbed five rebounds as Louisville (2-0) capped an easy opening weekend by racing past the Jaguars (3-1) in the second half.

Terrence Williams had 12 points, seven rebounds and seven assists, and Earl Clark added 12 points and five boards for the Cardinals, who used a suffocating defense to force 24 turnovers and hold the Jaguars to 36 percent shooting.

It's a good sign for coach Rick Pitino, who said he would judge his team's progress not by how many points it scored, but by how it did on the other end of the floor.

Brandon Davis led South Alabama with 16 points and 12 rebounds. Domonic Tilford added 16 points, but the Jaguars were no match for Louisville's size or depth. Eleven Cardinals played and all but two scored.

Louisville never trailed but needed a while to put away South Alabama. Tilford hit a fadeaway that pulled the Jaguars within 39-31 less than two minutes into the second half, but the Cardinals responded with a 22-5 run. Andre McGee got it going with a 3-pointer and Samuels finished it with a pair of free throws that pushed the lead to 61-36 with 10:15 remaining.

Samuels, who'd been chastised by Williams during an open practice earlier in the week for not passing the ball enough, had three assists. The best was a nifty bounce pass to Williams that the senior turned into a dunk. Samuels showed a little aggressiveness defensively too, blocking two shots, one of them a dunk attempt by South Alabama's Ronald Douglas.

Samuels' hopes for a perfect night from the field, however, ended when Davis stuffed him while going up for a dunk with the Cardinals up 24. No biggie. Samuels finished his night with one more jam and walked off to a standing ovation.

ALSO SUNDAY TOP 25 MEN

NO. 2 CONNECTICUT 76, NO. 17 MIAMI 63: Hasheem Thabeet had 19 points and 14 rebounds, and A.J. Price added 13 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Huskies in the Paradise Jam at Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands.

The Huskies (4-0) will face the No. 25 Wisconsin today in the final of the of the eight-team tournament.

Miami (2-1) will face San Diego for third place.

Jack McClinton had 27 points for the Hurricanes, and Dwayne Collins added 16 points and 14 rebounds.

XAVIER 63, NO. 13 MEMPHIS 58: Terrell Holloway made 10 free throws without a miss and finished with 13 points to help Xavier (5-0) beat No. 13 Memphis in the Puerto Rico Tip-Off championship game.

Tyreke Evans led Memphis (4-1) with 12 points, but was 4-for-16 from the field.

NO. 15 ARIZONA STATE 61, PEPPERDINE 40: For most of the game, it looked as if James Harden might personally outscore Pepperdine.

Arizona State's star guard finished with a career-high 33 points and had 12 rebounds as the Sun Devils shook off a lackluster start to beat visiting Pepperdine.

It was the fourth career double-double for Harden, a sophomore who has led Arizona State (3-0) in scoring or shared the lead in 28 of his 37 games.

MISSOURI 83, NO. 19 USC 72: DeMarre Carroll had 29 points and 11 rebounds to help Missouri pull away from Southern California in the O'Reilly Auto Parts Puerto Rico Tip Off.

J.T. Tiller added 14 points and Leo Lyons finished with 13 for the Tigers (4-1), who shot 55 percent and outscored the Trojans (3-2) 46-29 in the second half.

NO. 25 WISCONSIN 64, SAN DIEGO 49: Trevon Hughes scored 22 points to lead Wisconsin (5-0) past San Diego (2-2) in the semifinals of the the Paradise Jam at Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands.

ACC MEN

SETON HALL 77, VIRGINIA TECH 73: Jeremy Hazell scored 23 points to lead Seton Hall past Virginia Tech in the third-place game of the Puerto Rico Tip Off.

Seton Hall (4-1) shot 56.5 percent in the second half (13 of 23) to overcome a six-point deficit at halftime.

The Hokies (3-2) were led by Malcolm Delaney, who scored 25 points, and A.D. Vassallo with 22. Jeff Allen added 17 points and 17 rebounds for Virginia Tech.