Louisville knocks off Notre Dame, reaches 20-win mark

Chucky Hepburn poured in 16 points and dished out six assists as Louisville hit the 20-win mark for the first time in five seasons by beating Notre Dame 75-60 in an Atlantic Coast Conference battle on Sunday night in South Bend, Ind.Four other scorers finished in double figures for the Cardinals (20-6, 13-2 ACC), including Reyne Smith, who scored all 12 of his points from 3-point range.Terrence Edwards Jr. added 14 points while J’Vonne Hadley and James Scott scored 10 apiece for Louisville, which has won four straight games and is within one game of first-place Duke, ranked third in the nation, in the conference standings after winning only eight games a season ago.The Fighting Irish (11-14, 5-9) were looking for their second win in a row but had no such luck despite a 22-point night from Markus Burton. Tae Davis chipped in 15 points, and Braeden Shrewsberry scored 12 to go along with six rebounds.Louisville led just 35-28 at the half and had its lead cut to three before Smith knocked down a 3-pointer with 17 minutes to play to stretch the Cardinals’ lead to 38-32.Burton’s contested 3-pointer with 13:38 left cut the Cardinals’ advantage to 43-38, but Louisville soon had its biggest lead yet at 55-44 after Scott scored inside with 9:07 remaining.The visitors’ lead hit 18 when Hadley drilled back-to-back 3-pointers to make it 64-46, forcing Notre Dame to call a timeout. Louisville cruised from there.