Wally World -- Szczerbiak's 43 Points Drop Watts, Huskies

NEW ORLEANS - How the Washington Huskies remember the moment will vary.

Perhaps it will be the long, loud finality of the horn as the game ended.

Or maybe the flight of the ball thrown toward the Superdome ceiling by a Miami player.

Or the chaotic victory dance, led by All-American Wally Szczerbiak.

One moment the Huskies are alive, viable, sweating, striving, competing. The next they are devastated, facing the hard fact that there is nothing left. No more seconds, no more second chances.

"If we win, I'm practicing (today) preparing to win another game. But there are no more basketball games to win," said senior guard Donald Watts after Washington's 59-58 loss yesterday to Miami (Ohio) in the opening game of the NCAA Midwest Regional.

"I have nothing set to do for the next few months. I don't know where I'm going to end up. No 2:30 (practice time) with these guys anymore. That's now a reality," he said. "It's sad because I'll never be able to be in competition with these guys again, I'll never be in this organization, never wear the Washington uniform again. Those are things that are devastating because I couldn't get the ball up on the glass."

Washington Coach Bob Bender trusted Watts, the former Lake Washington High School star whose decision to stay at home four years ago helped rebuild the Husky program, with his team's fate in the final seconds. The last shot was designed to be taken by Watts, who scored 20 of his career-high-matching 28 points in the second half.

But as the clock wound down inside five seconds and the 6-foot-4 guard coasted into the key to set up a 14-foot jumper, Miami guard Anthony Taylor swatted it away. The ball was picked up by UW's Greg Clark, whose final attempt was blocked by the 6-8 Szczerbiak.

Suddenly, it was over.

The finish was fitting for Szczerbiak, a senior forward who had one of the most dominating games in tournament history. He scored 43 - 73 percent of his team's offense - on 18 of 33 shot attempts and 5 of 12 three-pointers, including two down the stretch. He pulled down 12 rebounds, had two assists, two fouls, just one turnover and three blocks.

"He's talented, he has a huge heart and has a great understanding of the game," Bender said. "He punished us for every mistake."

And there were plenty of those. Bender tried using Clark, Watts or Thalo Green on Szczerbiak without success. A second-half zone by the Huskies was shattered when he swished a couple treys.

"I was as open as I've been all year," Szczerbiak said. "It seemed every time I drove there weren't two or three guys ready to help."

It was the fourth most field goals made in an NCAA tournament game and the second most points scored by a Husky opponent in any game.

Memories of another kind will follow Husky 7-foot center Todd MacCulloch, who had just 11 points and took only two shots in the second half. Jason Stewart and John Estick took turns battering him.

"That's not the way I wanted to play," MacCulloch said. "That's not the way I wanted it to end."

But Watts, sensing that someone needed to step up, responded in a way not seen all season.

"If we can't get it to Todd, I thought, if I'm able to get the ball, I'm going to try to win this basketball game," Watts said. "But another guy on the other team felt the same way."

Szczerbiak hit a three-pointer with 4:19 left - and two seconds on the shot clock - to give the RedHawks (23-7), the No. 10 seed, a 57-52 lead over the No. 1 Huskies (17-12). Washington then pecked away with free throws until it was 59-58 with 59.3 seconds left.

Szczerbiak missed a jumper in Miami's final possession, giving the ball to the Huskies with 23.3 seconds left. Bender used a timeout to set up a play for Watts. Guard Senque Carey held the ball on the perimeter until under 10 seconds, then passed to Watts coming off a Deon Luton screen. Watts admitted the ball was cleanly slapped out of his hands.

"I felt if I could get to my spot, I could drop it in on him," Watts said. "I got stopped before it happened."

But the ball went directly into the hands of Clark, who struggled on offense all season, averaging just 3.2 points and shooting just 35 percent.

"I looked up and there were 4.1 seconds left. With that much time, I didn't want to put one up from 22 feet," Clark said. "I was looking for a better shot, maybe get fouled."

Instead, Szczerbiak met him just inside the arc, and pushed down his shot attempt to put the exclamation mark on his marvelous performance. Clark will be haunted by one thing.

"I would have loved to have pulled up and hit that open jumper," Clark said. "That's the only thing that's eating me up right now. It would have been deep, but there was a lot of time on the clock, maybe we could have gotten a rebound or a better shot."

The Huskies have seen this kind of ending before. They beat Xavier a year ago in their first round NCAA tournament game by blocking the Musketeers' final shots. In the Sweet 16 matchup with Connecticut, MacCulloch and Patrick Femerling couldn't reach Richard Hamilton's game-winning shot.

"This one is harder, because it's the first round," Bender said. "For both Todd and Donald, this is the hardest time. While you know it's over, you never can completely prepare yourself for it."

MacCulloch likely will be a first-round NBA draft selection. Watts may not be drafted.

"It was one of the better games I played, so that's somewhat pleasing. But the result is devastating," Watts said. "There is nothing I can do about it now. I had my opportunities."