Louisville Gets Better of Younger Bartow

It doesn’t matter whether your name is Gene or Murry. The Bartow family has had trouble coaching Alabama Birmingham to victories over Denny Crum’s Louisville Cardinals.

DeJuan Wheat scored 31 points and four other Cardinals scored in double digits as No. 14 Louisville defeated Alabama Birmingham, 93-79, in a Conference USA opener Friday night at Birmingham.

Murry Bartow, who succeeded his father, Gene, last March, was frustrated by the loss.

“They outplayed us,” Bartow said. “Quite frankly, [they] outcoached us and outworked us.”

Bartow wanted more consistency from his team.

“To beat a Louisville or a Tulane or a Cincinnati, we have got to be hitting on all cylinders,” Bartow said. “We had 21 turnovers; we missed 14 free throws.”

Crum wasn’t content either with the win for the Cardinals (11-1).

“We didn’t bury them like I thought we should have,” he said.

Cedric Dixon had 26 points to lead the Blazers (9-5).

OTHER GAMES

Alex Fisher scored 30 points to lead Weber State (5-5, 1-1 Big Sky) to a 104-95 conference victory over Montana (8-6, 0-2) at Ogden, Utah. . . . Brian Earl and Mitch Henderson each scored 14 points to lead Princeton (8-3) to a 54-49 nonconference victory over Manhattan (4-6) in New York. . . . James Penny scored 23 points as Texas Christian (11-2) extended its unbeaten home streak to eight games with an 80-68 victory over Liberty (9-4).

College Basketball Notes

Freshman 6-foot-10 center Lester Earl, who was to rejoin the Louisiana State team after apologizing to teammates and coaches, was suspended for missing practices, LSU Coach Dale Brown said. . . . Senior guard Adam Jacobsen, Pacific’s leading scorer last season, will undergo knee surgery next week and will redshirt the 1996-97 season. Jacobsen averaged 14.1 points last season.