Louisville holds off New Mexico, makes Sweet 16

Russ Smith had 17 points as No. 4 seed Louisville held off No. 5 seed New Mexico, 59-56, in Portland, Ore., last night in the NCAA Tournament West Regional.

Big East Tournament champion Louisville has won six straight and advanced to the regional semifinals for the first time since 2009.

Kyle Kuric added 10 points for the Cardinals (28-9), who lost their first game in the NCAA Tournament the previous two seasons. Now they're getting ready for a Sweet 16 matchup against the winner of today's game between Michigan State and Saint Louis.

Louisville had to hold off a New Mexico rally. With the Lobos trailing 53-46, Drew Gordon hit a pair of free throws and Demetrius Walker made a three-pointer to pull to within 53-51 with 1:36 left. Smith made a pair of free throws, but Gordon (21 points, 14 rebounds) answered with a tip-in for New Mexico (28-7), which has never been to the round of 16.

Louisville's Gorgui Dieng dunked with 32.3 seconds left after a nice feed from Peyton Siva, who later added a pair of free throws to make it 59-53. Gordon hit a three with 2.9 seconds left, and New Mexico had one last shot, a full-court heave at the buzzer.

Marquette 62, Murray State 53: With his team trailing by five with 7:43 to play, Jae Crowder scored six of his 17 points during a deciding 14-2 run, and the third-seeded Golden Eagles pulled away from the sixth-seeded Racers in Louisville, Ky.

Crowder, who scored 12 second-half points, had 13 rebounds. Darius Johnson-Odom added 17 points for Marquette (27-7), which faces the winner of today's game between Florida and Norfolk State in the Sweet 16.

"When you're playing a team like Murray State, they're going to keep throwing punches and throwing punches, and you have to find a way to slow them down," Johnson-Odom said. "We did a great job of that today."

Isaiah Canaan had 16 points and six rebounds for the Racers (31-2), who for the second time in three years fell just short of their first trip to the regional semifinals.

The Racers won their first 23 games of the season, were the last team in the country to lose and showed against Marquette that they can play with anyone.

"We proved today that we belong, and we belonged on a national stage," Racers coach Steve Prohm said. "We just weren't good enough the last seven minutes."

-- AP