Louisville 64, Ohio State 55

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Terry Rozier missed his first seven shots but scored nine points in the final 3:49 to help the No. 5 Louisville Cardinals hold on for a 64-55 victory over No. 14 Ohio State in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge on Tuesday at the KFC Yum! Center.

Rozier, a guard, hit a 3-pointer with 50 seconds left after Ohio State had cut the lead to 56-53. He finished with 10 points, seven assists and six rebounds as the Cardinals (6-0) stayed undefeated.

Senior forward Wayne Blackshear led Louisville with 22 points and six rebounds, getting 16 of his points in the first half. Forward Montrezl Harrell added 13 points and 10 rebounds.

Freshman D’Angelo Russell had 17 points, seven assists and six rebounds for Ohio State (5-1), which hit just 17 of 57 shots from the field.

Down by as much as 19 points, the Buckeyes used early second-half runs of 6-0 and 7-0 to pull within 42-31. Louisville had a run of six straight possessions with turnovers in the first seven minutes of the second half.

The Cardinals still led 44-31 with 9:21 left when Ohio State went on another run, cutting the margin to single digits for the first time since early in the game at 45-37.

Ohio State guard Kam Williams converted on a four-point play and Russell hit two buckets to make it 51-46. But then Rozier answered, hitting a 3-pointer and a short jumper to extend the lead back to 56-49.

Russell hit a pair of free throws to cut it to 56-51 before guard Chris Jones was called for traveling for Louisville with 1:27 left to play. Russell added two more free throws with just over a minute to go, but Rozier answered with a 3-pointer from the top of the key.

Ohio State made it 59-55 before freshman forward Anas Mahmoud made one of two free throws with 30.1 seconds left, and Montrezl Harrell snagged the rebound on the miss. He hit one of two from the line to make it 61-55 and then Rozier came up with a steal.

Rozier then hit a free throw and Blackshear added two more free throws to seal it.

Blackshear had 16 points during a dominating first half as the Cardinals jumped all over the Buckeyes to take a 35-18 at the half.

Blackshear, the only starter left from Louisville’s national championship team two years ago, hit five of eight from the field, including three of five 5 3-pointers.

The 6-foot-5 senior also had four rebounds as the Cardinals dominated the first half against the Buckeyes, who hit just six of 26 from the field.

Harrell added six points and five rebounds, while Rozier had two points, five rebounds and five assists for the Cardinals.

Louisville used runs of 8-0 and 9-0 in the first half to gain control. The Cardinals hit six of 17 3-point field goals.

NOTES: Louisville coach Rick Pitino was coming off a win over Cleveland State, which was his 700th career victory. One of five active members of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, Pitino is 700-245 in 30 years as a college coach. … Ohio State point guard Shannon Scott is on record-pace for assists. He has 52 assists and ranks No. 2 in the nation, and ranked No. 1 in the country in assists per game at 10.4 before Tuesday. He had handed out 10 or more in three consecutive games heading into Tuesday night’s game. But he did not have any assists against Louisville. He ranks No. 11 in school history with 373 for his career. … The two teams played for the ninth time but the first since a 72-64 Louisville win on Jan. 4, 2003. Louisville has won two in a row but the series is tied at 4.