Fans at the Georgia Dome got what they paid for on Monday night, as two very worthy adversaries traded blows for 40 minutes, but down the stretch, the Louisville Cardinals did what they have all year long, and came through in the clutch, earning the win and the 2013 men’s college basketball National Championship against the Michigan Wolverines by a final score of 82-76.

Louisville withstood Michigan’s offensive flurry in the first half – which saw Wolverine reserve Spike Albrecht score 17 points – and rallied from 12 points down early by going on a 14-3 run to close the gap to just one point at halftime.

While Albrecht – who set a new career high in the biggest game of his life – was Michigan’s unlikely first half hero, it was Luke Hancock who provided an unexpected, but needed boost to the Louisville offense, draining four from beyond the arc. Hancock would finish the game as Louisville’s leading scorer with 22 points.

“We just went into war right there with a great Michigan team,” Hancock said, according to ESPN.com. “We needed a rally and we’ve been doing it for a couple of games straight, being down. We just had to wait and make our run.”

After getting into early foul trouble, AP Player of the Year Trey Burke played an inspired second half for Michigan, throwing his body against Louisville defenders while hitting tough shots, including several from well beyond the three-point line. Burke willed his team to a near comeback in the second half, leading all scorers with 24 points, but in the end, he, like everyone else watching, had to give credit to the Cardinals for holding on.

“A lot of people didn’t expect us to get this far,” said Burke. “A lot of people didn’t expect us to get past the second round. We fought. We fought up to this point, but Louisville was the better team today, and they’re deserving of the win.”

The win marked Rick Pitino’s second career National Championship as a coach and capped off the best week of his life, one which saw him be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame and saw his son Richard become the new head coach at Minnesota. However, as always, the humble Pitino credited the team’s success to his players.

“I had the 13 toughest guys I’ve ever coached,” said Pitino, who plans to keep his promise to commemorate the win by getting a tattoo.

Although it wasn’t an easy final couple of games for Louisville, the Cardinals won each of their contests in different, but equally impressive fashions. Some nights they took control early and some nights they had to battle back from behind. Michigan pushed them and tested them more than any team in the tournament had, forcing the Cardinals to play their best game of the season, and they did.

Congratulations to the 2013 NCAA National Champion Louisville Cardinals.