Notre Dame knocked out of league tourney

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NEW YORK - Russ Smith scored 20 points to lead No. 4 Louisville to a 69-57 victory over No. 24 Notre Dame on Friday night.

Siva, the tournament MVP last year when Louisville won its second Big East title, had six assists and seven steals, which tied the tournament record in another solid defensive outing by the Cardinals.

Second-seeded Louisville (28-5), one of the Big East's tri-champions in the regular season. will face fifth-seeded and 19th-ranked Syracuse in the championship game Saturday night at Madison Square Garden. The Orange (26-8) beat top-seeded and fifth-ranked Georgetown 58-55 in overtime in the semifinals.

This will be Louisville's fourth championship game appearance in the last five years. The Cardinals also won the title in 2009 and they beat Syracuse in that game.

Jack Cooley and Jerian Grant both had 14 points for sixth-seeded Notre Dame, which was making its fourth straight and last semifinal appearance. The Irish (25-9) are heading for the Atlantic Coast Conference next season and they will leave the Big East without ever having reached the title game.

The Cardinals, who reached the Final Four last season, did what they have done so well in their nine-game winning streak, play defense at a level coach Rick Pitino's teams usually do at the end of the season. In the first eight games of the winning streak Louisville held its opponents to 54.2 points on 36.4 percent shooting from the field while forcing 17.9 turnovers with 10.4 of them being steals.

Friday night looked the same.

Notre Dame shot 36.5 percent from the field (19 of 52), including going 7 of 21 from 3-point range. In their wins over Rutgers and Marquette the Irish went 17 of 37 from beyond the arc (45.9 percent). Notre Dame committed 16 turnovers and with Siva leading the way the Cardinals had 11 steals.

Gorgui Dieng had eight points, 12 rebounds and four blocks for Louisville.

This was Louisville's second win over Notre Dane this season. The Irish won 104-101 in an epic five-overtime game, while the Cardinals also won at home, 73-57.

Louisville had five players score in a 10-3 run to close the first half that gave the Cardinals a 32-25 lead.

The Cardinals gave themselves some breathing room with another 10-3 run capped by Luke Hancock's 3-pointer that made it 55-44 with 4:09 to play.

Syracuse and Louisville spit their meetings this season with both winning at home. The Orange won 70-68 on Jan. 19, while the Cardinals won 58-53 on March 2.