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Saturday, March 22, 1997

Louisville sends Texas to the showers

By JOHN KEKIS

AP Sports Writer

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) - No DeJuan Wheat? No problem for the Louisville Cardinals.

With Louisville's inspirational leader and leading scorer nursing a sprained left ankle, Alvin Sims and Damion Dantzler stepped up Friday night to lead Louisville past Texas 78-63 and into the East Regional final.

Louisville (26-8), the sixth seed, will play the winner of the North Carolina-California game, which was played later Friday. Texas, the 10th seed, finished at 18-12.

Sims carried Louisville early, scoring 15 points in the first half as Wheat struggled to find his range. He never did, but it didn't matter because Dantzler scored all 17 of his points after the break, a season high.

Sims finished with a career-high 25 points. Gabe Muoneke led the Longhorns with 19 points and Al Coleman had 12.

This was supposed to be a battle between the teams' two stars, Wheat and Reggie Freeman of Texas. But Freeman finished his college career on a down, scoring a season-low six points after averaging 22.3 points a game all year. Freeman scored 34 points in a game between the teams earlier in the season, won in overtime 85-78 by the Cardinals.

When Wheat went down with 15:52 left, Louisville led 44-43. When he returned moments later, Texas had regained the lead on a 3-pointer by Brandy Perryman and seemed set to take command on Gabe Muoneke's dunk with 8:42 left, giving the Longhorns a 56-53 lead with 8:42 left.

But a Dantzler tip-in, a layup by Alex Sanders and a 3-pointer by Dantzler put Louisville ahead to stay. Wheat pulled a towel from his head and began to cheer, forgetting his sore, ice-covered ankle.

The Cardinals, led by Dantzler, stormed out after the break and regained the lead for the first time since midway through the first half. Dantzler, scoreless in the first half, scored six points and Sanders added five to key a 16-6 run. A baseline drive and dunk by Sims gave the Cardinals a 47-43 lead with 14:56 left.

Wheat, who was 1-for-6 from the field in the first half, got his only points of the game on a 3-pointer with 1:40 left in the first half. Wheat sat out three minutes in the opening half as the Cardinals struggled to find another hot hand to complement Sims.

If not for Sims, the Cardinals would have been in trouble early. He scored 13 of Louisville's first 17 points to keep them in the game.

Texas used an 11-0 run to surge from three points down to a 25-17 lead. Kris Clack finished the spurt, stealing the ball after a Louisville miss, then hitting a 3-pointer from the right corner at the other end.

The Longhorns led by as many as nine before the break. Muoneke's jumper from the top of the key with 6:06 left gave Texas a 29-20 edge. The Longhorns led 37-31 at intermission. Send a Letter to the Editor about This Story | Start or Join A Discussion about This Story
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