LOUISVILLE, Ky.?Dereke Tipler's 20 points were not enough to offset Louisville's Taquan Dean as the Indians of Arkansas State fell to the seventh-ranked Cardinals, 67-55, in the second of three games in Freedom Hall.
ASU (2-4) trailed by only two at the 13:42 more in the second half when Brandon Ballard stepped in front of a pass and tipped it ahead to Yual Banks, who took it down the court for a contested layup. That layup closed the gap to 34-32, but would be as close as the score would be the remainder of the night.
Louisville went on a 14-2 run right afterwards, clamping down defensively on the Indians while Dean nailed two of his six 3's during the run. By the time Tipler hit a pull-up jumper in the lane at the 8:28 mark, the Cardinals were up 48-36.
The UL lead swelled to 18 at the 6:13 mark when Dean again found the range from behind the arc, hitting a shot from the right side to make the score 56-38. ASU clawed back into the game and made the score closer when Wells hit two of his career-high four 3's on the night. With 1:33 left in the game, Tipler was fouled on a made layup, and after connecting on the free throw the Indians were down nine at 62-53.
But the energy was spent on the ASU side as Tipler and company played several minutes of transition basketball for the second straight night and the third time in four days. The final score of 67-55 was possible on Tipler's final bucket of the game, a short jumper in the paint.
UL (3-0) rode the hot shooting of Dean during the second half as he scored 17 of his game-high 24 points in the second half. Tipler and teammate Isaac Wells did all they could to keep the Indians in the game.
Tipler scored 15 of his team leading 20 points in the second half and Wells added eight points and six rebounds in the final frame, ending the game with 14 points and nine boards. Marcus Ardison scored 10 for ASU to round out the players reaching double figures while Jim Jones grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds.
The first half went nearly as well as head coach Dickey Nutt could have hoped, limiting the Cardinals to just 33-percent shooting in the first half and trailing 27-22. ASU actually led late in the half, 20-19, when Tipler connected on a floater in the lane at the 7:38 mark. ASU's defense managed to limit UL's offense to just one field goal during a 4:02 stretch in the half to help the Indians make the run.
UL controlled the opening tip and took the lead immediately when Andre McGee connected on a 3 from the left win at the 19:43 mark. After a Brandon Ballard missed 3 and Wells' missed dunk attempt, the Cardinals stretched the lead to 5-0 when Juan Palacios broke free for a layup.
For ASU, it marked the first time to face a top-10 team since playing Utah in the NCAA Tournament in 1998 and the second-highest ranked team ever to play ASU as a Division 1 team.
