Louisville cashes in at the line, defeats New Mexico State 90-84 in overtime

Nov 27, 2023, 12:29 am

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- — Skyy Clark scored 29 points, Tre White 22, and JJ Traynor 20, leading Louisville to 90-84 overtime victory over New Mexico State on Sunday.

Louisville made one shot in overtime — a jumper by Traynor to open the period — but the Cardinals hit 15 of 19 free throws, including a stretch of eight in a row that gave them an 84-78 lead in the final minute.

Six players fouled out for New Mexico State and the Aggies had four players on the floor for the final 21 seconds of overtime. Louisville took advantage throughout the game, making 36 of 49 free throws (73.5%) for the game.

Clark made 15 of 16 from the line and White went 9 for 13.

Trailing by eight with a little more than a minute remaining in regulation, Louisville got a pair of free throws from Clark and a 3-point play from Traynor to draw within 73-70. The Aggies' Jordan Rawls missed a jumper and White grabbed the defensive rebound with 26 seconds left. After a Louisville timeout, White hit a pull-up 3-pointer to tie it.

With one second left in regulation, New Mexico State's Kaosi Ezeagu drew a shooting foul from Mike James. Ezeagu missed both free throws and the game went to overtime.

The Cardinals (3-3) won although they never led by more than one point in regulation.

Jordan Rawls scored 20 points, Ezeagu 17, Christian Cook 12 and Robert Carpenter 10 for New Mexico State (3-5). The Aggies shot 58.3% from the field but made just 9 of 17 free throws. They were called for 40 fouls, to Louisville's 16, and played the final 21 seconds of the game with only four players on the floor.

Louisville stays at home and will play Bellarmine on Wednesday. New Mexico State will host University of the Southwest on Tuesday.

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