Friday, March 26, 2010
Associated Press
SYRACUSE, N.Y.
Kentucky avoided the latest big upset from the Big Red.
John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins and Patrick Patterson stopped Cornell’s captivating NCAA tournament run, giving the top-seeded Wildcats a 62-45 win Thursday night in the East Regional semifinals.
With much of the Carrier Dome crowd — and the country — pulling for an upset by the 12th-seeded Ivy Leaguers, Cornell bolted to a 10-2 lead in the opening minutes.
But Kentucky overcame the early deficit with a swarming defense, spoiling all the fun at Cornell’s loudest and largest pep rally.
John Calipari has the Wildcats (35-2) in the regional final in his first season, erasing much of the sting of the program’s decade-long slide from the top.
Kentucky will play second-seeded West Virginia on Saturday.
All the fan adulation and media hype shifted to Cornell this week after the Big Red (29-5) stunned the field with an improbable run to the round of 16. .
The nation’s top 3-shooting team continuously misfired from beyond the arc and Cornell couldn’t catch up.
After storming to two wins by a combined 59 points in the first two rounds, the Wildcats got all they could handle against Big Red. Cornell pounced to that early lead, then sliced a 17-point deficit to six late in the second half.
Louis Dale hit a 3 that made it 40-34 and Ryan Wittman nailed another to keep it at 46-37 with 3:47 left.
But Eric Bledsoe hit a short jumper with one tick left on the 35-second shot clock to push Kentucky’s lead to 12. The Wildcats finally put away Cornell for good from the free-throw line.
Cousins scored 16 points and Bledsoe 10 for Kentucky.