In a locker room outburst equal parts joy and angst, Jamar Butler finally dropped the charade Ohio State had been playing for nearly three weeks and revealed its main motivating factor for a roughshod run through the NIT.

"This is what happens when you put an NCAA tournament team in the NIT," Butler yelled, surrounded by his teammates after beating Massachusetts, 92-85, in the title game last night in New York. "Write that down and send that to the committee."

A year removed from a loss in the national championship game, the Buckeyes have a trophy to carry home — even if it's not the one they had wanted.

"Kind of a sore loser," coach Thad Matta said, when asked whether he would watch the Final Four this weekend. "I don't know what I'm going to do. I think I'm going to rest."

Butler had 19 points and eight assists in his final college game, which culminated with the kind of raucous victory celebration inside Madison Square Garden that he couldn't have last year in Atlanta.

The Buckeyes lost to Florida in the Final Four, and a snub by the NCAA selection committee kept them from playing for another trip there. They rebounded to dominate each of their four opponents on the way to New York, then had enough to withstand every UMass run.

"In 24 hours I've probably watched 10 or 12 games they played," Minutemen coach Travis Ford said, "and I never saw them shoot like that."

Kosta Koufos added 22 points and earned the tournament's most outstanding player award. Evan Turner finished with 20 for the Buckeyes (24-13), who shot 63 percent (19-of-30) from the field in the second half.

Ricky Harris scored 27 for UMass (25-11), hitting three 3-pointers in the final minutes when the Minutemen closed to 77-75 with 3:13 left, but got no closer.

LOW THIRD IN SHOOTOUT

Washington State guard Derrick Low, a 2004 'Iolani alum, finished third in the Men's 3-point Shooting Championship yesterday in San Antonio, Texas.

The event was part of the Final Four, to be held tomorrow with the semifinals and Monday with the championship.

UCLA plays Memphis and North Carolina takes on Kansas in tomorrow's semifinals.

Darnell Harris of LaSalle won the event.

Low advanced to the semifinals after scoring the second-highest amount in the first round, which featured eight seniors.

Low was paired with Utah State's Jaycee Carroll in the first round and amassed 20 points. Brian Roberts of Butler was the top total scorer in the first round with 22 points. The top four advanced to the semifinals.

In the semifinals, Tennessee's Chris Lofton (18) and Harris (17) were the top two scorers and advanced to the finals. Low would have tied for second had he made his final shot, but finished with 15.

In the 3-point contest, each contestant shoots behind the 3-point line from five designated areas. Each area has five balls. The first four balls are worth one point and the last ball in each rack is worth two points.

CBI

NEW TOURNEY TO STAY

College basketball's third postseason tournament is here to stay.

Rick Giles, the president of the College Basketball Invitational, said yesterday that the alternative to the National Invitation Tournament considers its first year a success and plans a similar event next year.

In the shadows of the Final Four and the NIT, the CBI will crown its champion tonight when Tulsa (24-14) hosts Bradley (21-16) in Game 3 of the championship series.

Initially met with skepticism as a tournament to crown the 98th-best team in the country, the CBI has gained momentum at least in the cities where the games have been played. Tulsa drew 7,337 — its second-largest crowd of the season in Game 1 of the championship series — and Bradley had 9,014 fans — about 600 shy of its season average — on hand for Game 2.

OVER AND BACK

California sophomore Ryan Anderson, a 6-foot-10 forward who led the Pac-10 in scoring (21.1 ppg), has decided to test his NBA value by declaring for the draft yesterday without signing with an agent. ... Niya Butts, an associate coach at Kentucky, is the new women's basketball coach at Arizona, replacing Joan Bonvicini, who was fired last month after coaching the Wildcats for 17 seasons. ... Bill Grier said yesterday that he'll remain the men's coach at the University of San Diego rather than pursuing the vacant job at Oregon State.