ACC Tournament: Cardinals fly to fast start, fend off ‘Noles

NEW YORK (AP) — Quentin Snider scored 19 points, Ray Spalding had 18 and Louisville built a huge lead before knocking off Florida State 82-74 on Wednesday in an Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament game with substantial NCAA implications.

Deng Adel added 15 points and eight rebounds for the ninth-seeded Cardinals (20-12), who advanced to face top-ranked Virginia in the first quarterfinal Thursday.

Trent Forrest and PJ Savoy each had 14 points off the bench to pace No. 8 seed Florida State (20-11), which trailed by 26 with 11 minutes remaining.

A furious rally by the Seminoles whittled the margin to eight with 3:26 to play, but Louisville regrouped and hung on behind Snider. The senior point guard had six assists and five rebounds without committing a turnover in 35 minutes.

The teams combined for 21 blocked shots (11 by FSU), a tournament record.

Louisville (20-12) advances to Thursday’s noon quarterfinal game and will face top-seeded and nationally No. 1 ranked Virginia (28-2). The ACC regular-season champion Cavaliers defeated the Cardinals twice during the regular season – 74-64 at Charlottesville on Jan. 31, and 67-66 at Louisville last Thursday night (March 1).