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National Basketball Association
BOXSCORE | RECAP
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

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