01:27 AM EST on Saturday, March 20, 2004

BY KEVIN McNAMARA
Journal Sports Writer

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The final month of what seemed like such a promising Providence College basketball season turned into a nightmare.

The final chapter of PC's late-season meltdown played out here last night at Kemper Arena as the Friars fumbled and bumbled their way to a 66-58 loss to the University of the Pacific in a first-round NCAA Tournament game. PC finished its season with four consecutive losses in March and a 20-9 record.

Journal photo / Bob Breidenbach Providence Friars Rob Sanders, left, and Dwight Brewington can only watch as their team's soaring season comes to a crushing conclusion last night in Kansas City. Providence fell to Pacific in a first-round NCAA Tournament upset, the Friars' fourth straight loss. The University of Rhode Island, meanwhile was eliminated from N.I.T. competition at West Virginia.

Ryan Gomes did his best to shake the Friars out of their losing streak as he exploded for 25 points and 13 rebounds. But no one else joined the party. Rob Sanders and

Tuukka Kotti scored eight points apiece, but starting guards Donnie McGrath and Sheiku Kabba combined for just nine points on 3-for-15 shooting.

The prescription for last night's Friar loss consisted of many of the same ills that mysteriously derailed PC's best regular season in nearly 25 years three weeks ago. This time it was shaky offense, leaky defense and a lot of mental errors that will stick with this team for the entire offseason. PC shot just 37 percent, 31 percent in a 25-point second half. Fifteen ugly turnovers, stupid fouls, missed defensive assignments and not making the key plays in crunch time all added up to a painful defeat.

"We've had different things happen in different games," said PC coach Tim Welsh, who lost his second NCAA first-round game as the Friars' coach. "We don't have enough guys that were clicking offensively. We needed guys to hit their averages or else we'll struggle. That puts a lot of pressure on the defense."

It was early defensive breakdowns that gave the Tigers life. Pacific got an early read on PC's trademark zone defense and hit six of its first 14 shots and 4 of 6 threes to take a 16-15 lead. A Davis layup off one of Sanders' three first-half turnovers and two hoops inside by Tyler Newton pushed the lead to 24-17 and prompted Welsh to switch his defense to man-to-man.

"They attacked our traps and got the ball to the baseline area," said Welsh. "They were on a 90-point pace, so we switched to man and that gave us some life."

The switch did energize the Friars but didn't do much for their heads. The Tigers came in known as a smart, sound team and certainly played the part. The Friars, however, did not.

The most costly mental blunder came with seven minutes left in the first half, when Marcus Douthit went up to block a Yango shot but was called for a foul. Douthit didn't like the call and slammed the ball hand into his hands. Then he apparently said something that the officials picked up on and was assessed a technical foul. The play gave PC's center his second and third fouls and sent him to the bench for the rest of the half.

Without their big man in the lane, the Friars' defense lapsed and Pacific surged to a 33-24 lead with four minutes left.

"They called the foul and I screamed, 'What?', and I slapped the ball," said Douthit. "That's when he called the technical. I don't really understand that. I guess we aren't in the Big East."

PC rallied down the stretch, however. Sanders, McGrath and Kabba all hit 3-pointers to slice the lead to 35-33, and the Friars were thrilled to trail by only 37-33 at the half.

The Friar defense came out and played the Tigers tough for most of the second half and cut the lead to two points on several occasions. But the lack of any offensive spurt doomed PC. While Gomes had his way inside, no one could bang down a clutch 3-pointer. Douthit didn't react to his foul troubles well, either. Even though he had three personals, PC's senior center let Yango post him up and score several relatively easy hoops.

Pacific led, 54-46, on two Yango free throws after Douthit had picked up his fourth foul with 7:05 left. The Friars made a final push and cut the lead to 58-54 on a Kotti offensive rebound hoop and two Chris Anrin free throws. Pacific's Davis was trapped near midcourt with the shot clock at two seconds when McGrath was called for a costly foul. Davis, an 87 percent foul shooter, went to the line for a one-and-one and missed the front end but chased down his own rebound. After milking the shot clock to three seconds, Davis sank a huge 3-pointer.

Gomes missed a three at the other end and David Doubley drove past McGrath and hit a running left-handed layup with only four ticks on the shot clock, pushing the lead to a comfortable 63-54 with 41 seconds left. PC's desperation traps led to two turnovers and two Gomes hoops to cut the lead to 63-58, but Kabba missed a long 3-pointer and Gomes missed on the offensive rebound tip. Doubley chased down the rebound with only nine seconds left, ending the Friars' season.

Afterward, Welsh tried to put a positive spin on what were four of the best months a PC team has enjoyed in years. But the final month was one to forget.

"We made mistakes, but it wasn't from a lack of effort," said Welsh. "We played hard, but we didn't play good.

"You feel like your guts are pulled out of you right now, but at the end of the year one team will stand and the rest won't have a very nice feeling," he added. "We got to the tournament, but obviously we wanted to make a deep run in it. I'm proud of our players. There's nothing to be ashamed of."