But after defending Division III champion Amherst dominated the Bears, 84-58, in the national semifinals last night at the Salem Civic Center, Small wished he had prepared differently for the Lord Jeffs.

"In retrospect, we probably would have been better served playing to our own strengths vs. trying to counter some of the things Amherst does so well," Small said.

Amherst (27-3) did more than enough things well in its third straight Final Four appearance. For one thing, there was no preparing for the kind of game point guard Andrew Olson played.

Olson, last year's co-national NABC player of the year, had his first career triple-double with 21 points (5-for-7 threes), 10 assists and 10 rebounds. The rebounds were surprising for the senior from San Diego who doesn't look close to the 5-10 listed on the roster.

"I was a little thrown back," Olson said. "I don't think I have had a triple double."

"Since we left here last year, this has been our goal," said Amherst coach Dave Hixon, whose team is playing in its fourth Final Four in the last 5 years. "Taking care of business every single day. Now here we are."

Amherst, which plays Washington University (St. Louis), an 89-74 winner over Hope (Mich.) College in the other semifinal, in today's final, was prepared for Ursinus All-America Nick Shattuck.

But Shattuck didn't resemble the player he had been all season because of recent heel and ankle injuries since the NCAA Tournament began.

"I'm not going to lie, it hurt," Shattuck said. "But I tried to let the adrenaline take over and just go with the flow. It was a little slow out there, but I'll be OK."

Shattuck entered the game averaging 22.3 points, but he made only three of 16 shots and was held to 10 points. When he climbed the two steps onto the platform in the interview area after the game, he was in obvious pain.

Small looked Shattuck's way during the interviews and said, "I was so proud to see you out there today, Nick, and kind of giving it a go."

Shattuck's injuries were an obvious hindrance to the Bears (29-3), but there was more: Eight turnovers in the first 10 minutes and 20 for the game, 39.3 percent field goal shooting and being outrebounded by 11.

"It's our defense that has carried us," Hixon said. "In the second half we turned it up a bit."

"For us to have competed at a better level we were going to have to play an exceptionally good game," Small said. "I know our kids are disappointed, because at the end of the day we didn't play quite as well as we'd been playing."

John Noonan led the Bears with 16 points, while Michael Shema had 13 points and 10 rebounds.

Fletcher Walters had 18 points for Amherst, and Brian Baskauskas scored 17.

Ursinus will play Hope in today's third-place game. *