National Basketball Association
Louisville 64, Notre Dame 50
When: 9:00 PM ET, Friday, March 9, 2012
Where: Madison Square Garden, New York, New York
Officials:
# Tim Clougherty, # Ed Corbett, # Pat Driscoll
Attendance:
20057
By SportsDirect Inc.
Louisville 64, Notre Dame 50: Peyton Siva flirted with a triple-double and the Cardinals closed the first half with a 26-4 run to cruise to an easy victory in the Big East tournament semifinals.
The seventh-seeded Cardinals (25-9) will face No. 4 seed Cincinnati in Saturday's championship game.
Louisville took control by holding the No. 23 Fighting Irish (22-11, 13-5) without a field goal for the final 12:42 of the first half, building a 35-19 cushion that would remain in double digits the rest of the way.
Siva, making a case for tournament MVP honors, finished with 13 points, nine assists and eight rebounds. Eric Atkins led the Fighting Irish with 12 points.
Gorgui Dieng, who all eight shots he took on the night, scored 10 of his game-high 16 points during the decisive surge.
Notre Dame was only 7 of 29 from the field (24 percent) in the first half, missing its final 15 shots of the period. The Fighting Irish made just 2 of 17 3-point shots in the game.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Louisville shot 56 percent from the floor (28 of 50). ... The Cardinals have lost three straight against Cincinnati, including a 60-56 road loss on Feb. 23. ... Louisville is in the Big East final for the third time in four years. ... The Cardinals and Bearcats last met for a league tournament title in the 1981 Metro Conference final.
Top Game Performances
Louisville |
|
Notre Dame |
Gorgui Dieng 16 |
Scoring |
Eric Atkins 12 |
Peyton Siva 9 |
Assists |
Eric Atkins 4 |
Peyton Siva 8 |
Rebounds |
Jack Cooley 11 |
Wayne Blackshear 2 |
Free Throws Made |
Eric Atkins 5 |
Russ Smith 3 |
Steals |
Jerian Grant 4 |
Jared Swopshire 2 |
Blocks |
Jack Cooley 1 |
Team Stats Summary
Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
Louisville
|
64 |
56.0 |
5-15 |
3-4 |
20 |
26 |
4 |
6 |
14 |
Notre Dame
|
50 |
35.8 |
2-17 |
10-19 |
10 |
27 |
1 |
9 |
12 |