OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) – All season long they waged a cross-country scoring duel that captivated college basketball fans.

It was a game of who can top this between Adam Morrison and J.J. Redick. Redick scored 40 one afternoon for Duke and Morrison responded with 42 at night for Gonzaga. It went that way all season, and their only contact was when they played online video games against each other.

As it turns out, those will be the only games Redick and Morrison will compete in for the rest of this season. With their teams two wins away from a potential Final Four showdown, Redick and Morrison left the NCAA tournament in tears within a few hours Thursday night.

Redick went out first, shooting 3-for-18 and matching his season low with 11 points in a 62-54 loss to LSU in the semifinals of the Atlanta Regional.

“I’m obviously really disappointed. And this definitely hurts,” Redick said after the game. “The past four years have just been pretty amazing and I didn’t want that to end.”

While a red-eyed Redick faced the media, Morrison took the court for Gonzaga’s game against UCLA. Morrison scored on Gonzaga’s first possession and helped the Bulldogs build a 17-point first-half lead.

Seemingly in control after Morrison made two free throws with 3:26 to go to put Gonzaga up nine, everything fell apart. Gonzaga didn’t score again, falling 73-71 as Morrison missed his final four shots on a 24-point night.

Morrison ended the night crumpled to the ground at midcourt in tears.

“It just happened in a blur,” Morrison said. “I hate losing, period. I mean anything, especially basketball.”

Now Redick will take his game to the NBA, where many scouts doubt he’ll be able to dominate as he did in college. Morrison will likely be in the pros, too. He said after the loss that he would talk with his family and scouts about whether he should skip his senior season.

Morrison is projected as a top five pick if he goes pro, while Redick will likely go later in the first round. Assuming they face off next year in the NBA, it will be as two players on the court instead of as the top players in the game. That’s what made this year’s scoring race so special. In recent years, the scoring champion has come from off-the-radar schools like Texas Southern Niagara, Centenary and St. Peter’s.

But Duke and Gonzaga were in the top 10 all season, raising hopes that the scoring duel would be settled in the Final Four in Indianapolis next week.

Instead, it was settled early, with Morrison winning by averaging 28.1 points per game to Redick’s 26.8.

“I’ll never coach another kid like that,” Gonzaga coach Mark Few said. “I mean, he’s a warrior. He is such an incredible competitor that it can’t help but be contagious.” He’s literally willed us all year to wins and end-of-game wins like that. You know, this last one, it just didn’t happen.”

Now the only race left between the two stars is for the various player of the year awards coming out in the next few weeks.

The Duke players and coaches feel similarly about Redick, who ended his career as the all-time scoring leader in the ACC. Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said he will have only positive memories of his time with Redick and fellow senior Shelden Williams.

“I don’t feel like crying, I feel happy,” Krzyzewski said. “Not that we lost, but I feel happy that I’ve had them. I mean how lucky. We have been really fortunate with this group, these seniors, to have four years like that.”

Redick’s brilliance didn’t carry over to the NCAA tournament, where he was only able to get Duke past the third round once in his four years.

In the four tournament games Duke lost during his career, Redick shot 22 percent and averaged 11 points – a far cry from his usual numbers.

Redick said he’s ending his career with no regrets, even though he never won the NCAA title that past Duke greats like Grant Hill, Christian Laettner, Shane Battier and Jason Williams won with the Blue Devils.

“I really consider myself one of the luckiest people,” Redick said. “That doesn’t really help the pain I’m feeling right now, but I’ll be able to look back and be proud of what we have accomplished.”

Morrison also accomplished so much in his career, but never got past the third round of the NCAA tournament. While he was focused on the crushing loss, the UCLA players were able to see the big picture.

Arron Afflalo broke off his celebration after the game to go help Morrison up off the court and congratulate his competitor.

“I saw him laying there in tears. I felt for him a little bit. He has no reason to cry,” Afflalo said. “He should definitely keep his head up. That’s easy to say when you won the game and your opponent lost. But I just really wanted to see him still in a good mood.”

That was hard to do. In a devastated locker room after the game, Morrison’s teammates said he thanked them for all their sacrifices that allowed him to have such a sensational season.

“If it’s the last game, I can say he’s the best player I’ve ever played with,” forward Sean Mallon said.

AP-ES-03-24-06 1658EST