Louisville beats Wichita State, 72-68, advances

Saturday, April 6, 2013

photo Louisville's Luke Hancock (11) works Saturday against Wichita State's Fred Van Vleet (23) and Wichita State's Tekele Cotton (32) during their NCAA Final Four tournament semifinal game in Atlanta. Louisville won 72-68.

ATLANTA - Louisville is moving on to the national championship game.

Barely.

Russ Smith scored 21 points, Luke Hancock added 20 off the bench and the Cardinals rallied from a 12-point deficit in the second half to beat Wichita State 72-68.

The Cardinals move on to face either Michigan or Syracuse in Monday night's title game. Those teams will tip off in about a half hour at the Georgia Dome.

For the Shockers, a surprising run through the NCAA tournament is over.

Injured Louisville guard watched the game from the bench, his broken leg propped in a chair. He couldn't even watch in the closing seconds, covering his eyes with his No. 5 jersey. But he was celebrating at the buzzer.