Jojo Doria

Portland, OR

Peyton Siva recorded 17 points and Chane Behanan racked up 14 points and 11 boards off the bench as the Louisville Cardinals foiled the upset-minded Davidson Wildcats, 69-62 Thursday in the first round of the 2012 NCAA tournament.

The Cardinals made their way to the round-of-32 after surviving a tough contest against the Wildcats in their West Regional first-round encounter at Rose Garden.

After grinding out 33-25 cushion at halftime, the Cardinals slowly took control behind solid playmaking skills from Siva and strong defensive presence from Behanan.

Davidson climbed back from a double-digit hole in the last minute but its effort was too late as Louisville captured its first NCAA tourney win after a two-year drought and set up a date with the New Mexico Lobos in the next round.

Jake Cohen set the tone for the Wildcats with 24 points and 10 boards, while Clint Mann chipped in with 13 points off the bench.

The Cardinals shot just over 40 percent from the field and hounded the Wildcats to just .350 percent shooting, including a horrid 4-for-19 from the three-point arc.

The loss ended Davidson's NCAA tournament bid after advancing in the second round with a gutty double-overtime win over Western Carolina in last week's Southern Conference tournament.

Meanwhile, the Cardinals will attempt to sustain the momentum they built after winning the Big East tournament. Louisville will face a Lobos team that also survived a hardly fought duel with Long Beach State Thursday.

 

Siva, Behanan Deliver as Louisville Edges Davidson