The Cougars still led by 10 with under two minutes before intermission before 3-ponters by the Cardinals Jerry Smith and Will Scott helped trim Louisville's deficit to 41-37 at the half.

Five minutes into the second half, the Cards took the first of several small leads, using an 8-0 run keyed by Derrick Caracter, who finished with a team-high 24 points. The two traded advantages until BYU was up 58-57 with nine minutes remaining.

"I wanted them to play like I knew they could," said Rose, using timeouts to urge his team "to rebound the basketball and push it."

The Cougars responded in kind — Murdock hit a driving jumper, Tavernari tossed a behind-the-back pass to Plaisted for a fast-break jam, Plaisted sank a jumper, Tavernari connected on long 3 and freshman Chris Collinsworth dunked off a Murdock fast-break pass for a 69-61 lead with five minutes to play.

Louisville was able to pull within a shot's difference just once the rest of the way — Smith hit another 3-pointer for a 76-73 score with 13 seconds left. Tavernari made two free throws with 1.4 seconds to play, enough to offset Scott's desperation half-court heave that banked in for the final 78-76 score.

BYU, Louisville, North Carolina and Old Dominion were considered the marquee programs to play in the eight-team Invitational. The only one of the eight located outside the Eastern time zone, BYU seemed a nice tourney throw-in, given a sizeable LDS Church membership in the Vegas area and two Cougars — Tavernari and Michael Loyd Jr. — who prepped locally.

But it was expected that Louisville and North Carolina — a pair of perennial college-hoops powerhouses — would play in the championship game tonight.

"We were looking forward to it," admitted Pitino, "but BYU is a better basketball team."

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E-mail: taylor@desnews.com