SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Montrezl Harrell is not ready for the end of his college career at Louisville just yet. Anton Gill helped make sure it continues at least one more game.

Harrell scored 24 points, Gill keyed a late-game surge with seven points off the bench, and Louisville beat North Carolina State 75-65 on Friday night in the East Regional semifinals of the NCAA tournament.

“We don’t want to go home,” said Harrell, a junior who plans to enter the NBA draft. “We took our bumps and bruises throughout the season but we came together at the right time. Everything just gelled at the right time.”

Louisville (27-8), the fourth seed in the East and seeking to make its third Final Four in four years, will play Michigan State in the East final Sunday.

After toppling top-seeded Villanova, North Carolina State (22-14), the eighth seed, saw its postseason run end against a team that refused to quit.

“Late in the game they made some plays there that were the difference,” N.C. State Coach Mark Gottfried said. “(Gill) made a couple of tough shots there. I thought it was that little stretch that gave them the cushion, and it was the difference in the game.”

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Louisville wasn’t given much chance of playing in late March after it lost 2 of 3 entering the NCAA tournament, but gritty wins over UC Irvine and Northern Iowa had the Cardinals brimming with confidence.

Guard Terry Rozier had 17 points and a career-high 14 rebounds, and freshman guard Quentin Snider added 14 points for the Cardinals.

Louisville Coach Rick Pitino has a 12-1 record in Sweet 16 games, 6-1 with the Cardinals.

Trevor Lacey led the Wolfpack with 18 points, Ralston Turner had 12 and Kyle Washington 11.

Speedy guard Anthony “Cat” Barber, the spark of the Wolfpack’s attack, finished with eight points on 3-of-14 shooting, only briefly getting untracked early in the second half.

Before the game, Pitino promised a surprise and Gill delivered. Gill, who averaged 9.5 minutes and 2.4 points during the season, hit a runner and a 3 from the right corner in a span of a minute as Louisville regained the lead late in a seesaw game. He followed with a tough baseline drive through traffic for a 62-57 lead with 3:33 left.

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“Anton and I had an interesting conversation the other day,” Pitino said. “I said, ‘You’re going to get your opportunity, son.’ He went in and basically won the game for us.”

And he did it against his hometown team.

“It’s kind of weird. I didn’t really realize we were playing N.C. State,” Gill said. “We’ve been so focused on what we need to do as a team. It’s funny how things work.”

MICHIGAN STATE 62, OKLAHOMA 58: Denzel Valentine scored 13 of his 18 points in the second half to lead Michigan State (26-11) over Oklahoma (24-11) in East Regional semifinal at Syracuse, New York.

Counted out for nearly done in February, the Tom Izzo-coached Spartans are instead headed to the Elite Eight for the second straight year and fourth time since 2009. And they’re going as a seventh-seeded team that knocked off the third-seeded Sooners, a week after knocking off No. 2 Virginia.

Travis Trice led the Spartans with 24 points, and Branden Dawson had 11 rebounds.

Buddy Hield led the Sooners with 21 points.

Michigan State is the lowest-seeded team remaining in the tournament field.


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