SAN ANTONIO — Staring down a 10-point deficit against an underdog that seemed nothing short of blessed during the madness of March, Moe Wagner and Michigan clamped down on Loyola Chicago and ended one of the most memorable NCAA Tournament runs ever.
Wagner, Charles Matthews, and the Wolverines erased a 10-point second-half deficit and Michigan beat the Ramblers, 69-57, on Saturday night in the Final Four.
The third-seeded Wolverines (33-7) will take a 14-game winning streak into their first national title game appearance since 2013, and second under coach John Beilein. They’ll face Villanova, which beat Kansas, 95-79, in the other semifinal.
Lovable Loyola (32-6), with superfan Sister Jean courtside and its fans behind the bench standing for pretty much the entire game, could not conjure another upset. The Ramblers were the fourth 11th-seeded team to make it this far and like the previous three, the semifinals were the end of the road.
Coach Porter Moser said he was proud of players Ben Richardson, Aundre Jackson, and Donte Ingram for holding it together during a postgame news conference, answering questions with red eyes and long faces.
‘‘It was as tough a locker room as I've seen,’’ Moser said. ‘‘They believed that they belong. They believed, they wanted to advance.’’
Loyola had no answers for the 6-foot-11-inch Wagner and its offense, so smooth and efficient on the way to San Antonio, broke down in the second half and finished with 17 turnovers.
Wagner, playing in front of his parents who made the trip from Germany, scored 24 points, had 15 rebounds, and was 10 for 16 from the field. Matthews, the Kentucky transfer and Chicago native, added 17 points, including a run-out dunk with 1:33 left that made it 63-53.
And that was that.
‘‘I just tried to go in the game, take what the opponent is giving me, what the game is giving me, stay emotionally solid and don’t get emotionally drunk, and it worked out today,’’ said Wagner, who became the third player in the last 40 years with a 20-and-15 game in the Final Four, joining Hakeem Olajuwon of Houston in 1983 (then known as Akeem) and Larry Bird of Indiana State in 1979.
Michigan has more work to do. The Wolverines will resume the underdog role they played for much of the season Monday, trying to win the program’s second NCAA championship.
