Kentucky off to Title Game, Beats Louisville 69-61 Kentucky owns the Bluegrass State. Now it can concentrate on the rest of the country Anthony Davis and top-seeded Kentucky will play for the national title Monday night after finally putting away pesky Louisville 69-61 in the Final Four on Saturday night. It will be Kentucky's first appearance in the title game since winning a seventh NCAA crown back in 1998 and gives coach John Calipari another shot at the title that has eluded him. The Wildcats (37-2) will face the winner of Kansas-Ohio State. As the final seconds ticked down, Davis pointed to the court and screamed twice "This is my stage!" Yes, yes, it is. With Davis, everybody's player of the year, leading a star-studded roster, Kentucky was the top seed in the tournament and the heavy favorite to cut down the nets when the whole tournament was done. And Calipari wouldn't let his young players consider anything else, saying repeatedly this was "just another game." But playing in-state rival Louisville (30-10) is never just that, and the Cardinals made Kentucky work deep into the second half to grind this victory out. Louisville outrebounded Kentucky 40-33, including a whopping 19-6 advantage on the offensive glass - the sole reason the Cardinals were able to make a game of this. Kentucky's Terrence Jones, right, fights for a loose ball with Louisville's Peyton Siva during the first half of an NCAA Final Four semifinal college basketball tournament game Saturday, March 31, 2012, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey) Close "I just said John, 'I'll be pulling for you, bring the trophy back home to Kentucky,'" Louisville coach Rick Pitino said. Sometimes there's a lot of talk about these guys fighting, dialysis, there's also really a lot of people that get along. ... For those that have brains, they root for each other. We like their basketball team; we hope they bring it home for the state. Bigger, bulkier and with the 19-year-old freshman Davis having a wider wingspan than some small airplanes, the Wildcats looked like playground bullies as they pushed Louisville around on their way to a 13-point lead early in the second half. But the Cardinals know a thing about rallies after coming from 11 points down to beat Florida in last weekend's West Regional final, and they sure made Kentucky sweat. Russ Smith made back-to-back buckets to start a 15-3 run, and Peyton Siva capped it with a 3-pointer from NBA range that tied the game at 49 with 9:11 to play. But Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, who played just 23 minutes because of foul trouble, made back-to-back buckets to give the Wildcats some breathing room. After Siva made a pair of free throws, Terrence Jones scored on a jumper and Darius Miller drilled a 3 - only Kentucky's second of the game - to give the Wildcats control for good. I'm proud of this team. They're coming together," Calipari said. They've taken on shots and runs like Louisville did today, and they've held their own, so I'm proud of them. Just to make sure Louisville didn't get any wild notions about another late comeback, Kidd-Gilchrist threw down a monstrous dunk with 1:05 to play that had Kentucky fans on their feet and assistant coaches from Kansas and Ohio State scrambling to try and find a way to stop this juggernaut. Kentucky shot a dazzling 57 percent - yes, that's right - with Davis leading the way. He missed just one of his eight shots and finished with 18 points and 14 rebounds. Miller added 13 points, and Doron Lamb had 10. Kidd-Gilchrist had nine, all in the second half. "We're one game closer to our dream and our goals," Davis said. Siva led the Cardinals with 11 points, and Gorgui Dieng had 12 rebounds.