LOUISVILLE 93 wEST vIRGINIA 85 (ot)

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The Louisville game plan? Hah! West Virginia’s hotshot shooters turned that into little more than a cheesy souvenir.

Louisville’s trip to the Final Four? That looked like a lost cause, too.

The master motivator himself, Cardinals coach Rick Pitino, admitted he was lying when he told his players at halftime that he was sure they were going to win.

Almost every road to a championship takes at least one unexpected twist, though, and none was more astonishing than the second-half rally the Cardinals staged Saturday to earn a 93-85 overtime win and a trip to college basketball’s biggest stage.

“I’ve never seen anything like it in my life,” Pitino said.

Cramping, limping, barely able to run, Larry O’Bannon scored 24 points and Taquan Dean had 23 to lead fourth-seeded Louisville (33-4) back from a 20-point deficit to the scintillating victory in the Albuquerque Regional final.

Seventh-seeded West Virginia (24-11), trying to make the Final Four for the first time since 1959, went home despite making 10 3-pointers in the first half and sending Pitino and the Cardinals into shock.

“I’ve never abandoned a whole scouting report at halftime,” he said. “But it had to be abandoned.”

Pitino instructed his players to scrap their zone defense, start trapping and pressing, and play more aggressively on offense.

They followed his directions and, in doing so, they helped him make history — becoming the first coach to take three men’s programs to the Final Four.

Louisville had every reason to pack it in after the Mountaineers took a 38-18 lead.

And it wasn’t just that coach John Beilein’s team made 11 of its first 16 field-goal attempts, or that it shot 10 for 14 from 3-point range in the first half, or that it made a total of 18 from long range, second to only the 1990 Loyola Marymount team in the history of the tournament.

It was also the way some of the shots fell.

Beilein’s son, Patrick, banked one in from an awkward angle in front of the Louisville bench. He made another from the “B” in the New Mexico “Lobos” logo set about 30 feet from the basket.

Pitino spent much of the first half in an unfamiliar pose — sitting on the bench, watching shot after shot fall and hoping that when the wave ended, his team would still have a chance.

Turns out, the Cardinals did.

Louisville pulled within arm’s distance many times in the second half, but on every occasion, Johannes Herber or Kevin Pittsnogle (six 3-pointers, 25 points) made 3s to keep the Mountaineers ahead.

Not until O’Bannon, the region’s most valuable player, slithered through the defense and made a layup with 38 seconds left did Louisville tie it at 77. And not until overtime began did West Virginia finally start missing.

Led by Dean’s seventh 3-pointer and four free throws by O’Bannon, the Cardinals opened it up in overtime.

Louisville 93, West Virginia 85 (OT)

West Virginia (24-11)–Sally 2-3 0-1 4, Gansey 3-6 3-4 11, Pittsnogle 9-15 1-2 25, Collins 2-5 5-6 11, Joh.Herber 3-7 2-2 11, Beilein 4-7 2-2 13, Nichols 1-1 0-0 3, Young 1-2 0-0 3, Fischer 1-1 2-2 4. Totals 26-47 15-19 85.

Louisville (33-4)–Palacios 6-8 0-4 13, Garcia 5-6 2-2 13, Myles 3-6 3-8 9, Dean 8-20 0-0 23, O’Bannon 6-10 10-11 24, Wade 0-0 2-2 2, Jenkins 0-4 1-2 1, Gianiny 0-0 0-0 0, George 4-4 0-0 8. Totals 32-58 18-29 93.

Halftime—West Virginia 40, Louisville 27. Regulation—West Virginia 77, Louisville 77. 3-Point Goals—West Virginia 18-27 (Pittsnogle 6-9, Joh.Herber 3-4, Beilein 3-6, Collins 2-2, Gansey 2-4, Nichols 1-1, Young 1-1), Louisville 11-28 (Dean 7-17, O’Bannon 2-5, Garcia 1-2, Palacios 1-2, Jenkins 0-1, Myles 0-1). Fouled Out—Sally, Garcia. Rebounds—West Virginia 19 (Pittsnogle 5), Louisville 34 (Myles 7). Assists—West Virginia 23 (Collins, Joh.Herber 5), Louisville 19 (Garcia 8). Total Fouls—West Virginia 19, Louisville 18. A—15,896.