The Louisville Cardinals lost a player, but they defeated the Duke Blue Devils 85-63 on Sunday advancing to the Final Four of the 2013 Men's Basketball Tournament. Thanks to another solid game by Russ Smith and Peyton Silva, the Cardinal offense was able to turn it up in the second half to pull away and win it for their guard Kevin Ware.
Smith scored 23 points, two steals and a block in this one as a mixture of defense and offense described the Cardinals' effort on both sides of the ball. Siva, reliable as always, scored 16 points and had four assists in the game.
The best thing Louisville could have done was win as they lost a key figure from their bench in Ware. In the first half, Ware suffered a broken leg that saw his bone cleanly come out of his leg. {You can watch the video here} With the score 21-17 in favor of Louisville, Tyler Thornton threw up a three and Ware leaped in attempt to block the shot. The three fell making it 21-20, but Ware fell as well and his leg just gave out on him.
At the half, Ware told his team he was okay and wanted them to focus on winning the game.
Louisville did just that despite not playing focused basketball early on in the second half. They saw a slim 35-32 lead slip away quickly in the opening minutes. However, Louisville regrouped, with the game tied at 42, they and went on a 24-8 run to take a 16-point lead and solidify their entrance in the 2013 Final Four.
Siva, Smith and center Gorgui Deng led the offense in this run. Deng finished with 14 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks as he completed the double-double. The Cardinals completed the game shooting 53 percent for the game. As for Duke, they shot 37 percent and shot poorly from three.
Louisville will now face the Wichita St. Shockers who have been absolutely rolling in this year's tournament and are attempting to complete their Cinderella Story in 2013.
