=== Louisville cruises past St. John's ===
 
 Louisville, KY (Sports Network) - Russ Smith scored 21 of his 24 points in the
 second  half,  helping the  12th-ranked Louisville  Cardinals bounce back from
 losing  the longest  game in  school history  with a  72-58 win  over the  St.
 John's Red Storm.
 
 Smith  added  six rebounds,  four assists  and three  steals for the Cardinals
 (20-5,  8-4  Big East), who  played for the  first time since Saturday's five-
 overtime setback to Notre Dame.
 
 "I  thought he  gave us a spurt  we needed," Louisville head coach Rick Pitino
 said of Smith.
 
 Gorgui  Dieng  contributed a double-double of  10 points with a career-high 17
 rebounds.
 
 The  Red  Storm (15-10, 7-6)  were paced  by the tandem  of Phil Greene IV and
 D'Angelo  Harrison. Greene  scored 21 points and Harrison, who became the 48th
 St. John's player in history to reach 1,000 career points, had 18.
 
 St.  John's head coach Steve Lavin missed a second straight game following the
 passing of his father over the weekend.
 
 Down  nine  after 20 minutes, the  Red Storm opened  the second half on a 10-0
 burst.  Louisville answered with  a surge of its own and led 44-35 after Smith
 sank two free throws.
 
 A Montrezl Harrell layup stretched the lead to 52-39 with 9:06 remaining.
 
 St. John's trailed by double-digits the rest of the way.
 
 "I  thought our guys played hard. I thought they played hard for Coach (Steve)
 Lavin  and his  family. We will go  back to the drawing board and hopefully we
 will  get coach (Lavin) back here soon," St. John's assistant coach Rico Hines
 said.
 
 The  Cardinals  went on an  11-0 run after  Harrison opened the game's scoring
 with  a  3-pointer. St.  John's fought  back and  took a  19-16 lead when Amir
 Garrett hit a free throw to complete a three-point play.
 
 Louisville,  though, scored  the final eight points of the frame and carried a
 32-23 advantage into the break.
 
                                   Game Notes
 
 The Cardinals won 20 games for the 11th consecutive season ... Peyton Siva had
 12  points and six assists for Louisville ... The Cardinals improved to 7-0 at
 home in the series with St. John's.
 
 02/15 01:36:14 ET

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