BOX SCORE

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Samardo Samuels scored 18 points and pulled in 14 rebounds, leading Louisville to a 79-53 men's basketball win over Radford on Sunday at Freedom Hall.

Art Parakhouski (Minsk, Belarus) led the Highlanders (5-5) with 14 points and has reached double digits in each of the last 12 games dating back to last season.  The nation's leading rebounder entering the game, Parakhouski finished with eight boards.

Samuels scored 11 points and grabbed nine rebounds to help the Cardinals (9-3) to a 17-point lead at halftime.  For the game, the Naismith Award Watch List performer was 7-for-16 from the field.  Jared Swopshire added 13 points and Terrence Jennings scored 11 for Louisville.

Joey Lynch-Flohr (Fairfax, Va./Fairfax) scored 11 points on 4-of-9 shooting, his seventh double-figure scoring effort of the season.   Laz Trifunovic (Belgrade, Serbia) finished with 11 points for his fifth double-digit performance in his first six games.

Freshman Evan Faulkner (Sandy Hook, Ky./Elliott County), playing in his home state, grabbed a career-high six rebounds.

“We need all of our guys to play complete games and not just score,” Radford head coach Brad Greenberg said.  “Run back, get on defense, work harder on the defensive glass and be patient at the offensive end.”

Louisville jumped out to a double-digit halftime lead, 37-20, by controlling the glass 27-13 (13 offensive rebounds) and outscoring Radford on second-chance opportunities (11-2).  

After Parakhouski's dunk that cut Louisville's lead to one (10-9) at 13:45, the Cardinals opened up the game with a 23-6 run, punctuated by three straight three-pointers from Reginald Delk, in taking a 33-16 lead with 4:10 left.  During the game-changing stretch, Radford was held 6:39 without a field goal.

Radford limited Louisville to 41 percent shooting (15 of 37) in the first half, but only connected on 33 percent (8 of 24) of its opportunities.

“We played a pretty good defensive game,” Greenberg said.  “But, we gave up too many offensive rebounds and it's very difficult to be in a game when they get more chances than you do.”

Delk, who did all of his scoring in the first half, hit on three of four attempts from the three-point line for nine points.  

Lynch-Flohr, who scored 26 points against top-ranked Kansas earlier this month, scored nine first half points for the Highlanders (3 of 5 FGs, 3 of 4 FTs).

Out of the intermission, Radford trimmed the Louisville lead to 13, 44-31, at 13:43 on a pair of Parakhouski free throws.   Parakhouski, after scoring four first half points, had 10 in the second.

“They double-teamed Art all day, and we weren't able to get him as many shots, but he did an excellent job passing out of the post,” Greenberg said.

Sunday's game was the first-ever meeting between Radford and Louisville.

The Highlanders are back at the Dedmon Center on Wednesday (Dec. 30), hosting George Mason in a game televised by Mid-Atlantic Sports Network at 7 p.m.