PHOENIX -- When Connecticut's Kevin Freeman grabbed the bounding ball and flung it high toward the America West Arena rafters, frustration and the burdens of high expectations went with it. Connecticut can dance. And smile. And proudly wear the look of a team that just reached the other side.

It is over. The underachieving label for Connecticut; the season, the dream for Gonzaga. Connecticut tripped Gonzaga, 67-62, yesterday in a doozy of a game in the West Regional final. And now Connecticut (32-2) boldly dashes where it has never been before in its 21 trips to the NCAA tournament: the Final Four.

"For 10 years we've had some teams make a run toward the Final Four," said Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun. "I'm not disappointed in any of those kids. This is for them."

The Huskies won this game with a penchant for rebounding, with timely shots and with defense that was persistent, deflating and enduring.

The defining moment came with 34.4 seconds remaining and Connecticut ahead 65-62 on the strength of two Khalid El-Amin free throws. After a timeout during which Calhoun set his defense and Dan Monson, the Gonzaga coach, set his offense, the teams battled. Gonzaga was looking for a three-pointer. Connecticut was ready.

It denied the perimeter, storming to the three-point arc, extending its defense and making the Gonzaga attempt impossible. Soon there were 10 seconds left and, still, not one good Gonzaga look at the basket. Spinning, toiling against a wall of defense -- that was the Gonzaga offense on that key possession.

Finally, Gonzaga guard Matt Santangelo fired an off-balance shot that floated toward the basket and missed, and Freeman grabbed the rebound and was fouled with 6.2 seconds left.

Freeman -- Connecticut's 6-foot-7 junior forward who grabbed 15 rebounds (10 offensive), scored 13 points and made the West Regional tournament first team -- made both free throws, which were the game's final points.

Gonzaga muffed the inbounds play and the ball bounded away toward the baseline.

Freeman grabbed it, though.

And up into the rafters it went.

"What a feeling!" Freeman said. It was that way for all of the Connecticut players and coaches. Relief. Achievement. They swiped it by taking a hot-shooting team and making it suffer, holding it to 20-for-57 shooting, or 35.1 percent. It limited Gonzaga to 5-for-21 (23.8 percent) on three-pointers.

"Both defenses did a good job of disrupting the other team's offense," Monson said. "They got us out of our offensive flow. And then when we did finally get good shots, a lot of times we rushed them and missed them, shots we normally make. That was as good a defense we have seen this year."

Richie Frahm, Gonzaga's sharpest shooter, was 2-for-11.

"They took us out of our game and the three-point shots," Frahm said. "We just broke down mentally. We really didn't step up the challenge. Too bad we couldn't do better."

Santangelo was 1-for-9 from the floor, including his big miss at the end.

"I probably should have passed it," Santangelo said. "At that point though, the clock was ticking."

Against Gonzaga.

In the first half, though, Gonzaga was more timely. It led 32-31 at halftime. It did so by matching Connecticut's intensity on defense and by fighting on the boards. Connecticut usually manhandles teams in rebounding, but at halftime, its rebounding edge was only 22-19.

Connecticut forward Richard Hamilton scored 11 points in the first half. He saw and felt the Gonzaga push during a half in which Connecticut's biggest lead was four points and Gonzaga's was three.

"I knew this could have been my last game," Hamilton said. "That kind of scared me. I went out to do something to try and change it."

And he did. He scored 10 more points in the second half, played superb defense on Santangelo and others and always seemed to make the big shots that Connecticut needed to keep the game manageable.

Hamilton played all but three minutes of the game and was named Most Valuable Player of the regional.

Guard Quentin Hall's team-best 18 points were not enough for Gonzaga, which finished its magical season at 28-7.

"They are a tremendous, athletic team," forward Jeremy Eaton said of the Huskies. "They crashed us pretty hard. This was not the way we wanted it to end. That is the bad thing about college basketball -- unless you win the national championship, it ends with a loss. In a couple of days we will realize where we were. We were among the top eight teams in college basketball."

Said Santangelo: "It was a long and crazy ride."