Can You Believe Kemba??

ANAHEIM - The Connecicut Huskies spent the second half of Saturday's West Region championship game weathering haymaker after haymaker from Arizona. Each one that briefly grabbed the lead away staggered them. But each time they came back to land a roundhouse of their own, including the last one in a 65-63 victory before 17,856 at Honda Center that is sending them back to the Final Four.

The improbable Huskies run that began with five wins in five days at Madison Square Garden has grown to nine wins in 18 days and now goes to Houston. Connecticut (30-9) will be playing in it's fourth Final Four - and as West Region champion for the fourth time - when it meets the East Region champion Saturday at Reliant Stadium.

Third-seeded UConn dusted itself off after enduring a 14-2 Derrick Williams-fueled Wildcat run that put it in a three-point hole with less than seven minutes to play and dazed No. 5 Arizona by hitting it with 10 unanswered points incliding six by freshman phenom Jeremy Lamb.

The 'Cats weren't out yet. They'd been betrayed by the 46% three-point shooting that carried them to regional final, making just two of their first 17, but Kyle Fogg and Jamelle Horne drained treys on consecutive trips get Arizona within two with 1:03 to play.

UConn's last offensive possession went miserably with Kemba Walker dribbling into a double-team and kicking it out to Shabazz Napier, who missed a three-point shot. Then it was time for the Huskies to duck one last punch. Williams missed a three-pointer from the top. Fogg got an offensive rebound and found Horne. And Horne missed a three-point shot.

The Huskies piled on to each other in front of their bench. Walker, the star from the Bronx, who had 20 points despite a poor shooting night, smiled wide and clapped his hands before going to embrace his close comrades on the Arizona squad, point guard Lamont (Momo) Jones of Harlem and assistant coach Emanuel (Book) Richardson, who was his AAU coach with the Bronx Gauchos.

Walker was named the Most Outstanding player of the regional. He had the final UConn basket, a patented step-back jumper with 1:13 to play, that ended up being the margin of victory.

Lamb had 19 points, 12 of them after halftime, and Shabazz Napier had 10 points for UConn.

Williams had 20 points, Jesse Perry 14 points and Fogg 11 points for Arizona (30-8). Jones finished with eight points.

UConn overcame a cold-shooting start that threatened to put them in a big hole when Walker finally found his touch and Jeremy Lamb and Shabazz Napier heated up at the same time. Walker missed five of his first six shots but ended up with 12 points on 4-for-10 shooting at the break and Lamb and Napier each had seven points as the Huskies took a 32-25 lead into the break.

The last Huskies possession of the half was especially disheartening for Arizona. It had seen leads of 9-1 and 16-10 disintegrate into a 29-23 deficit when Walker sank a jumper with 2:32 in the half. Jones' made a layup to get the margin back to four and again awaken the hugely partisan Wildcats crowd.

The Huskies got a shot for 6-10 Tyler Olander, who missed the two-footer, but Napier got the rebound with 57 seconds left. Napier took the next shot and it went out of bounds off Arizona. UConn coach Jim Calhoun called timeout, drew up a play and Walker swished a three-pointer off the inbounds pass for the 32-25 lead.

Arizona attacked the backboards in the same fashion it had on Thursday night when rebounding paved the way for its takedown of Duke. It held a 19-11 rebounding edge and a 16-10 lead seven minutes into the game. It was short-lived, evaporating shortly after Williams came out of the game after picking up his second foul with 10:36 left.

With the tide turning, 'Cats coach Sean Miller opted to gamble and put Williams back into the game. It was a bad gamble because, with their shooting only mediocre, the Huskies had resorted to driving for contact. Williams landed his third and sat for the final 5:52 of the half.

The other serious hindrance to Arizona was it's three-point shooting. The 'Cats made 40% coming into the tournament and 46% in their three tournaments wins, but made just one of their 11 first-half attmpts.