Louisville beats Irish in OT in Big East Semi-Finals

NEW YORK—Louisville was in bad shape at halftime. The Cardinals were in foul trouble most of the second half. After dominating in overtime, they’re in the Big East championship game for the second time.Preston Knowles, despite playing the final 10 minutes of regulation and overtime with four fouls, scored 20 points to rally No. 14 Louisville to an 83-77 victory over No. 4 Notre Dame on Friday night.The third-seeded Cardinals (25-8), who trailed by 14 points at halftime, will face ninth-seeded and 21st-ranked Connecticut, which advanced with a 76-71 overtime win over Syracuse.It is the first time both Big East semifinals went to overtime, and this was the third extra-session game of the tournament, matching the record. The overtime was certainly nothing new to these teams as six of their last 10 games have gone to the extra 5 minutes, including this season’s meeting, an 87-79 Notre Dame win on Feb. 9.They didn’t, especially conference player of year Ben Hansbrough.He struggled through one of his worst games of the season for the Irish (26-6), who had won 12 of 13. The senior guard finished 3 of 16 from the field for 13 points and had six turnovers.