Altitude Fall to Cardinals in Final Exhibition Game
November 23, 2003 - NBA G League (G League)
Asheville Altitude News Release
LOUISVILLE, KY., November 23, 2003 â Asheville Altitude forward Desmond Penigar led all scorers with 18 points and 14 rebounds Sunday as the Louisville Cardinals knocked off the Altitude 73-59 in an exhibition game at Freedom Hall.
"They (Louisville) were quick and athletic," said Altitude head coach Joey Meyer. "They used their quickness better than we used our size. We're going to go back to the drawing board and focus on the things we did well."
The Altitude put itself in a huge hole early committing 15 first half turnovers. Louisville took full advantage of the Asheville miscues knocking down 41.2% (14-of-34) of its first half shots and 42.9% (9-of-21) from three-point land to build a 38-21 lead. Asheville didn't help the Cardinals hot shooting half by shooting just 28.6% (8-of-28) from the floor while missing all six of its three-point attempts.
"That was probably the best 16 minutes of basketball that we've played in a while," said Louisville head coach Rick Pitino. "For a long time, they (Asheville) had just 12 points. And you don't hold a NBDL team to 12 points for long without playing some pretty good defense. Now we need to improve that 16 minutes today to about 35 minutes in order for us to be ready for our opener."
Asheville stepped up its perimeter pressure in the second half holding the Cardinals to just 31.6% (6-of-19) from three-point land.
Penigar led a sporadic Altitude comeback with 12 second half points. Lavor Postell and Tobe Carberry added eight points each for the Altitude while Brandon Kurtz chipped in with seven points and seven rebounds.
Louisville was led by Francisco Garcia and Taqun Dean with17 points each. Larry O'Bannon added 10.
The Altitude will open the regular season against the Columbus Riverdragons, Nov. 28, followed by the home opener, Nov. 30, as they take on the Huntsville Flight.
NBA G League Stories from November 23, 2003
- Altitude Fall to Cardinals in Final Exhibition Game - Asheville Altitude
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