Skyhawk senior Jeremy Kelly showed the hometown crowd in Louisville what they were missing as he scored 31 points and pulled down nine rebounds in his return to the city.

Kelly and the Skyhawks were able to hang around for most of the game until the Cardinals pulled away in the final five minutes for a 78-61 win.

Kelly opened the game by nailing a three-pointer to help the Skyhawks build an early lead, stunning the crowd of over 18 thousand who had come out for the Cardinals’ home opener.

The hostile environment seemed to have little effect on the Skyhawks at the start of the game. The Skyhawks scored the first five points of the game and did not surrender the lead until the first of two Juan Palacios free throws snapped a 10-10 tie to put the Cardinals ahead by a point.

Poor shooting would keep them from pulling away. Louisville made a dismal 27 percent of its field goal attempts in the first half. Their poor performance from the floor was offset by a 10-of-13 performance from the free throw line.

Louisville’s largest lead of the half came with 5:46 remaining when Palacios followed his own miss with a tip-in to put the Cardinals up 23-15.

The Skyhawks’ five converted free throws in the half all came in the final 5:37 to keep them within striking distance. They cut the lead to four points on several occasions, but could never come any closer. The teams headed to the locker rooms with the Cardinals leading, 31-26.

The difference in the score was the Cardinals’ five-point advantage from the free throw line. Kelly led all scorers with 15 first-half points. Jared Newson added seven for the Skyhawks, while Palacios led the Cardinals with 11.

“Without TaJo (Palacios) we wouldn’t have won tonight,” said Louisville head coach Rick Pitino. The Cardinals’ other star player, guard Taquan Dean, was held to 2-for-9 shooting and eight points.

The second half saw the seventh-ranked Cardinals play to their reputation as they scored the first nine points to build a 40-26 lead two minutes into the half.

The Skyhawks were hurt by several early turnovers. Unlike the first half, they seemed intimidated by their surroundings. Nevertheless, they refused to go down without a fight.

After a Dean lay-up put the Cardinals on top 44-28, Kelly orchestrated a 7-0 Skyhawk run by hitting a three-pointer and two free throws.

A Cleve Woodfork lay-up and two more Kelly free throws cut the lead to single digits at 44-35 with 14:02 remaining.

The Cardinals quickly returned the lead to 16 points by the under-12 media timeout, but the resilient Skyhawks slowly chipped away and were within nine points once again, 54-45, with 9:42 left after Kelly hit his fourth three-pointer of the game.

The Skyhawks continued to hang around over the next few minutes, staying within nine to twelve points. Finally, the Cardinals pulled away for good in the final five minutes.

A Newson dunk brought the Skyhawks to within 14 with 2:30 left, the closest they would come to the Cardinals late in the game.

Louisville led by as many as 22 points with 43 seconds left in the game before the Skyhawks scored the final five points.

The Cardinals shot 54 percent from the floor in the second half, including 50 percent from three-point range. The Skyhawks improved over their first-half performance to 41 percent, including 40 percent from beyond the three-point arc.

Louisville edged the Skyhawks on the boards, out rebounding them, 41-40. The Cardinals also forced 17 Skyhawk turnovers while committing only eight themselves.

Along with battling the Cardinals on the boards, the Skyhawks also held their own in the paint, scoring 22 points down low compared to the Cardinals’ 24.

“I was very concerned coming into this game because we beat a good ballclub tonight. We beat a very good OVC team,” Pitino said. “I was proud of our effort,” said UTM head coach Bret Campbell. “It was a nice homecoming for Jeremy Kelly... I was glad we were able to come together there in the second half.”

“When you go from 15 percent to 50 percent, it makes a big difference,” Campbell said.

The Skyhawks opened a five-game home stand with a 94-72 win over Webster University on November 26. They return to action Thursday at 7 p.m. when they host Arkansas State.