No. 4 Louisville 69, Notre Dame 57: Peyton Siva finished with 12 points, six assists and tied a career high with seven steals as the Cardinals defeated the Fighting Irish in the semifinals of the Big East tournament at Madison Square Garden.

Russ Smith led all scorers with 20 points and Gorgui Dieng added 12 rebounds for reigning tournament champion Louisville (28-5), which will face Syracuse in the championship game on Saturday – its third straight appearance in the title game and fourth over the last five seasons.

Jerian Grant and All-Big East forward Jack Cooley paced Notre Dame (25-9) with 14 points apiece. The Irish have dropped each of their last four semifinal games at this event, including the last three to Louisville.

The Cardinals never trailed, but did not pull away from the Irish until Smith drained a 3-pointer and Siva stole the ball on the next possession and scored on a layup to give Louisville a 50-41 lead with six minutes remaining.

Pat Connaughton followed with a 3-pointer to cut the Irish’s deficit to six, but Smith countered with a layup off one of the Cardinals’ 11 steals and Luke Hancock hit another 3-pointer with 4:09 left to establish a 55-44 advantage. Notre Dame could inch no closer than seven points after that.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Siva broke Darrell Griffith’s school record for career steals and matched a Big East tournament record – held by 10 others – for steals in a game. … Connaughton shot 3-for-6 beyond the arc Friday and went 15-for-24 in three games at this event. … The Cardinals are on a nine-game winning streak, eight of which have come by double figures.