Issue date: 3/25/05 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Nick Layman Louisville´s Ellis Myles, far left, and Francisco Garcia box out Washington´s Jamaal Williams at The Pit on Thursday. Garcia led all scorers with 23 points in Louisville´s win over Washington.

As the minutes became seconds rounding out Louisville's 93-79 win over Washington, the Huskie bench players gnawed on their shooting shirts and stared blankly at their sneakers.

The chance to prove themselves worthy of the NCAA Tournament's most surprising No. 1 seed had faded.

No. 4 Louisville is moving on to the Elite Eight while Washington is headed back to the Pacific Northwest.

The Huskies just couldn't come up with the stops they needed in a back-and-forth offensive battle. They never got closer than 10 points in the game's final four minutes.

"They went out and did what was needed to win this ballgame," Washington head coach Lorenzo Romar said. "(It was a) very impressive win, I thought, by Louisville."

The Cardinals were led offensively by 6-foot-7-inch Francisco Garcia, who finished the contest with a game-high 23 points. The junior forward began the first half driving from the outside for swooping lay-ups, then contributed nine points in a 19-2 run before halftime that essentially put the game out of Washington's reach.

Garcia hit three three-pointers in a row over that span.

"I think it went to us all," he said of the run. "I saw a couple of openings the first time, and I didn't shoot the ball, and coach said when I'm open to shoot the ball. I took a couple of easy shots, and I just made them."

Foul trouble also played a role in Washington's loss. Floor general Nate Robinson, who has been the team's leading scorer and a spark plug through the first two rounds of the tournament, picked up two quick fouls and headed to the bench with less than five minutes gone.

He came back later in the half and promptly picked up his third whistle.

"It was weird, actually," Huskie guard Brandon Roy said. "I kind of looked over at coach and thought 'Hey, is Nate not in the game?' They said he had three fouls. I was disappointed. We weren't aware of our fouls tonight."

Continued...

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