CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Surrounded by a sea of Carolina blue, against the country's No. 1-ranked team in the midst of the sports spectacle known as the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16, the most successful and storied college basketball career in Hawai'i history came to an end last night.

And though the score was not pretty for Derrick Low and his Washington State teammates— a 68-47 loss to North Carolina — the end before a Bobcats Arena crowd of 19,092 still came with the feel-good satisfaction of a journey well traveled.

"I wouldn't make any changes for the world," said Low, a 2004 'Iolani School graduate from Honolulu, who scored 14 points last night. "Even when it was looking not so good in the beginning when I broke my foot twice (as a freshman and sophomore), and we weren't doing too good in those seasons, even then I wouldn't have changed it. Because just being in Pullman (Wash.) and being around the people, and my teammates and my coaches, that's just what I loved about it. And it was all more worth it when we made the turnaround."

Low, a 6-foot-2 senior guard, was a cornerstone in helping transform the Cougars (26-9) from a Pac-10 Conference cellar dweller into a Sweet 16 team. But last night, they ran into a North Carolina (33-2) juggernaut that proved too deep and talented to overcome.

Washington State also hurt itself with poor shooting from the field (18 for 57, 31 percent) and free-throw line (9 for 15, 60 percent). The Cougars made just 2 of 16 shots (12.5 percent) from 3-point range, and also got out-rebounded 46-32.

Low, Washington State's leading scorer at 14.1 points per game, was not immune to the shooting woes. He finished 6 for 16 from the field, including 2 of 9 from beyond the arc.

"Offensively, I thought I got all the looks that I could get and that I wanted," said Low, who was 2 for 7 with five points in the first half as the Tar Heels built a 35-21 lead. "A lot of them were good shots, but ... it was just hard to get them to drop. In most games I would have my teammates making shots and it would probably be just me missing. But it was pretty much all of us tonight and we just didn't shoot well as a team. That's how it goes sometimes ..."

The Cougars started out well, taking a 12-10 lead on Taylor Rochestie's jumper with 11:33 remaining in the first half. But reserve swingman Danny Green answered with a 3-pointer from the right wing to put North Carolina up 13-12 with 11:09 left, and the Tar Heels never trailed again.

Another 3-pointer by Green stretched the lead to 24-15 with 3:44 remaining, but after missing his first five shots, Low finally drained a 3-pointer from the right wing 18 seconds later to cut it to 24-18.

Ty Lawson's free throw put North Carolina up, 28-18, with 2:21 left, but Low's short floater in the lane danced around the rim and fell in to make it 28-20 with 1:34 remaining.

The Tar Heels then ended the half with a 7-1 run capped by Lawson's 3-pointer from the left corner two seconds before halftime.

"My first five shots looked perfect but they just rimmed out," Low said. "Each time when it doesn't go down, you kind of slip deeper into a hole, because (the opponent is) going down and scoring and you're not, because there's this lid on the basket."

The second half wasn't much better.

Two layups by Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year Taylor Hansbrough — held to two points in the first half — stretched the lead to 39-25, before Low cut it to 39-27 with a left-handed layup off a drive.

But North Carolina's offense then picked up more steam, and by the time Low scored his next basket on a baseline drive with 10:46 left, it was 51-32.

His 3-pointer a minute later made it 55-35 and Kyle Weaver's layup with 8:11 remaining closed Washington State to 55-37, but that was as close as the Cougars would get.

When Low scored on a layup with 2:34 remaining — the final basket of his career — the score was 68-44 and any comeback hopes had expired.

He exited the game with 1:16 left, to a standing ovation from the crimson-clad Washington State cheering section of about 1,500, and chants of "DER-rick, LOW-oh! DER-rick, LOW-oh! ..."

Tar Heels coach Roy Williams, who recruited Low when he was head coach at Kansas, also paid his respects in the handshake line after the game.

"I grabbed Derrick and Weaver both and told them, 'It doesn't feel good right now, but congratulations on what you've done, and great careers and great year," Williams said.

Low said losing by such a large margin did not feel good, but thinking of his career as a whole made him feel better.

"Walking off the court, it was kinda hard not to feel disappointed to end our college career like that," Low said. "But then again, after that it just made me reminisce back to the beginning and, you know, how it was back then when we first got here and the adversity we went through — maybe being injured or just being last in the Pac-10 and no one believing in you ...

"And then, you know, to look where we are now walking off the court coming out of a Sweet 16 game. You just gotta smile at that and even though we lost, we just thank Washington State and the coaching staff for taking a chance on us."

Cougars coach Tony Bennett said Washington State and its fans also should be thankful.

"(Low and Weaver) say we took a chance on them, but they also took a chance on us," Bennett said. "They endured and they're wonderful kids. Derrick and Kyle, what they did making the Pan Am Games team ... they're the foundation for us, and they took us to a spot, like I said, after all this stuff goes away, they'll feel real good about what they accomplished and they'll be remembered forever in Pullman, Wash.

"I promise you that."

WASHINGTON ST. (26-9)—Cowgill 1-7 0-0 2, Baynes 6-8 2-4 14, Low 6-16 0-0 14, Rochestie 1-8 0-0 2, Weaver 3-13 4-8 10, Koprivica 0-0 0-0 0, Cross 0-0 0-0 0, Harmeling 0-2 3-3 3, Henry 1-2 0-0 2, Forrest 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 18-57 9-15 47.

NORTH CAROLINA (35-2)—Ginyard 0-1 0-0 0, Thompson 3-5 0-0 6, Hansbrough 6-15 6-10 18, Lawson 5-11 1-2 12, Ellington 4-13 4-4 13, Campbell 0-1 0-0 0, Thomas 0-1 0-0 0, Graves 0-0 0-0 0, Green 6-10 0-0 15, Tanner 0-0 0-0 0, Wood 0-0 0-0 0, Wooten 0-0 0-0 0, Stepheson 1-1 2-3 4, Moody 0-0 0-0 0, Copeland 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 25-58 13-19 68.

Halftime—North Carolina 35-21. 3-Point Goals—Washington St. 2-16 (Low 2-9, Rochestie 0-1, Forrest 0-1, Harmeling 0-2, Weaver 0-3), North Carolina 5-15 (Green 3-5, Lawson 1-3, Ellington 1-4, Campbell 0-1, Thomas 0-1, Hansbrough 0-1). Fouled Out—Baynes, Cowgill. Rebounds—Washington St. 32 (Baynes, Cowgill 8), North Carolina 46 (Hansbrough 9). Assists—Washington St. 9 (Weaver 5), North Carolina 11 (Ginyard, Thomas 4). Total Fouls—Washington St. 18, North Carolina 16. A—19,092.

Read Wes' blog on prep sports at http://blogs.honolululuadvertiser.com.