Tough Defense Leads No. 18 Louisville Past Davidson in NCAA Tournament

Thursday, March 15

Portland, Ore.

1:40 pm (ET)

Davidson College

25-8

No. --/18 Louisville~

27-9

Davidson

Louisville

Clint Mann recorded 13 points and a career-high three blocked shots.

Photo by: Tim Cowie - DavidsonPhotos.com

Tough Defense Leads No. 18 Louisville Past Davidson in NCAA Tournament

3/15/2012 5:52:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Marc Gignac

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PORTLAND, Ore. – Peyton Siva tallied 17 points and six assists, and Louisville held Davidson to a season-low 35 percent shooting to earn a 69-62 men's basketball victory in the second round of the NCAA Tournament Thursday morning at the Rose Garden.

The Cardinals (27-9) advance to play the winner of New Mexico—Long Beach State, while Davidson sees its season end with a 25-8 record.

Jake Cohen led Davidson with 24 points and 10 rebounds, and Clint Mann posted 13 points and three blocked shots off the bench. Nik Cochran scored nine points, and Chris Czerapowicz added six points and nine rebounds.

Chane Behanan collected 14 points and 11 rebounds, including six on the offensive glass, for Louisville, and Kyle Kuric scored 13 points.

The Wildcats, who came into the game averaging 78.4 points a game, which ranked 12th in the country, were held to 21-for-60 from the field and 4-of-19 from 3-point range.

Davidson also entered the game ninth in the nation in free-throw shooting (.764) but managed to make 16-of-23 from the charity stripe.

The Cardinals used a small run in each half to distance themselves from the Wildcats. Hanging on to a two-point lead with less than two minutes to go in the first period, Louisville outscored Davidson 7-1 the rest of the way and led 33-25 at the break. Behanan got a tip-in, and Russ Smith hit a triple to key the run.

Louisville spent most of the second frame ahead by double digits and extended the cushion to 59-44, its largest of the game, on a Chris Smith free throw with 3:22 to play.

The Wildcats came right back with seven straight points, and a Czerapowicz triple from the wing trimmed the lead to eight points with 1:55 remaining. The Cardinals made eight of 10 from the charity stripe to keep the margin at 10 points with less than a minute left, and Davidson ran out of time.

Cochran was fouled on a triple try and made all three for Davidson, trimming the lead to seven. After Kuric missed two free throws with 23 seconds left, Tyler Kalinoski scored a layup with 12 seconds to play, making the score 67-62. Smith was fouled with 10 seconds remaining and hit two free throws to seal the win.

Davidson loses three seniors off of this year's team but returns all five starters and the top eight scorers and rebounders to the 2012-13 squad.

Game Notes: Cohen's double-double was the fifth of his career and third this season… With today's NCAA Tournament appearance, every four-year player in the Davidson program since 1994 has played in the NCAA Tournament at least once during their career… The Wildcats won 25 games or more for the fourth time in the last six seasons… It was head coach Bob McKillop's 697th collegiate game, and all have come at Davidson.