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National Basketball Association
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Louisville 72, Florida 68
When: 4:30 PM ET, Saturday, March 24, 2012
Where: US Airways Center, Phoenix, Arizona
Officials: # Verne Harris, # Karl Hess, # Doug Simmons
Attendance: 13456

Louisville 72, Florida 68:
Chane Behanan scored 17 points, including a couple of tough shots in the lane in the final minutes, and the Cardinals overcame an 11-point second-half deficit to stun the Gators in the West Regional final at Phoenix.

Russ Smith added 19 points off the bench for fourth-seeded Louisville (30-9), which advances to its ninth Final Four and first since 2005.

Louisville closed the game on an 18-3 run and will meet either Kentucky or Baylor, who play Sunday.

The Cardinals trailed 41-33 at halftime, and the seventh-seeded Gators (26-11) took a 65-54 edge on Patric Young’s thunderous dunk with 8:14 left. But Louisville responded with a 12-1 run, tying the game at 66 on Behanan’s leaner in the lane with about three minutes to go.

With just more than a minute left, Behanan hit another jumper in the lane to go up 69-68, and then Smith hit two free throws with 16 seconds on the clock to make it 71-68.

Florida had a chance to tie in the final seconds, but both Bradley Beal and Kenny Boynton came up short on 3-point attempts.

Beal and Erik Murphy led five players in double figures with 14 points apiece for the Gators, who narrowly missed their fourth Final Four appearance since 2000.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Louisville coach Rick Pitino moved to 7-0 all-time against Florida coach Billy Donovan, his former player at Providence and assistant coach at Kentucky … The Gators fell to 1-8 all-time against Louisville … The Cardinals are in search of their first national championship since 1986.
Top Game Performances
 
Florida   Louisville
Bradley Beal 14 Scoring Russ Smith 19
Erving Walker 7 Assists Peyton Siva 8
Erik Murphy 8 Rebounds Chane Behanan 7
Erik Murphy 4 Free Throws Made Russ Smith 6
Patric Young 2 Steals Kyle Kuric 2
Erik Murphy 2 Blocks Chane Behanan 2
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
Florida 68 50.0 8-20 12-18 17 32 3 4 14
Louisville 72 45.0 6-16 12-15 11 27 3 6 6