Six Points

WASHINGTON - The Boston Celtics were tied up getting to the MCI Center last night in rush-hour traffic for their meeting with the Washington Wizards, and had they had an idea the drubbing that was to ensue, they might have gone back to their hotel. One night after scoring the third fewest points in franchise history, the Wizards unleashed a torrent of offense on the Celtics, pasting a 114-69 defeat on Boston - the third largest victory in Wizards' franchise history, not to mention the worst loss ever suffered by a Boston team in its storied 55-year history.

The Milwaukee Wave continued to make an early-season statement, last night at the expense of the Blast, this time doing it in heartbreak, overtime fashion. Greg Howes' goal with 2:07 left in the first overtime period gave the Wave a 12-10 win over the Blast in a treat of a game before 5,273 fans who saw it at First Mariner Arena. Howes' left-footed finish, coming from the top of the scoring circle and finding the top left corner, put a damper on a strong second-half performance from the home team, which rallied from a six-point first-half deficit.

WASHINGTON - For a while last night, it looked as if the New York Liberty was going to break the hearts of the Washington Mystics one more time by coming into MCI Center and grabbing another win. The Mystics, who had trailed by double digits in both of their home regular-season losses to New York, fell behind by 11 in the first half and by eight with 8 minutes to go in Game 1 of the WNBA's Eastern Conference finals. But the Mystics drew from a wellspring of courage, fighting off the Liberty, 79-74, pulling out a contest they likely should have lost.

Annapolis junior attackman Brian Vetter has a running rivalry with classmate Kelsey Mays, who plays the same position for the Panthers' girls lacrosse team. "We live five houses apart. We've played lacrosse together since we were 2," said Vetter, who has considered Mays his best friend since the two were in diapers. "If she gets so many goals, I'm going to try to match it." Vetter had four goals and two assists for a game-high six points in last night's 16-5 Class 3A-2A boys lacrosse state semifinal win over visiting Seneca Valley of Montgomery County.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- By the time Duke's pep band started its tepid rendition of "We are the Champions" after the team's 91-61 rout of North Carolina State, it seemed about as time appropriate as "Jingle Bell Rock." The horns could have been humming at halftime of yesterday's Atlantic Coast Conference final, immediately after Mike Dunleavy had just scored nine of his 18 points during a three-minute stretch to give his team a 14-point lead heading into the break. Tunes were in order when tournament Most Valuable Player Carlos Boozer demonstrated that the Wolfpack had no chance of stopping him inside on the way to a game-high 26 points.

In a wrestling tournament full of upsets, Owings Mills avoided the big takedown and earned the sixth Baltimore County title for 20th-year coach Guy Pritzker, 203-197, over No. 13 Dulaney at Parkville High. Individual champions for the No. 4 Eagles were Mike Cooper (119 pounds) and Clayton Arnold (135), with runner-up performances from Mike Kessler (125) and Eric Fischel (160), third-place finishes from Jason Jacovsky (103), Sasha Binder (130) and Adam Metzger (152), and a fourth place from David Jacovsky (112)

Scott Clipp has scored nearly 1,000 points in four years in the paint, and "has the heart of a 7-foot player," says his coach, Jim Rhoads. But the Catonsville senior doesn't kid himself into thinking he can play Division I basketball. "I'm a 6-foot-2 post player, so I won't make it in that world," said Clipp, who will attend the University of Maryland. "I'll concentrate on being a student, major in journalism." Clipp couldn't have written a better story than last night's game-saving effort, where he scored 28 points and grabbed eight rebounds in a 60-54 overtime Baltimore County Division II victory over visiting Woodlawn.

At home and up against the last-place team that left a stinging impression with a last-minute win the week before, the Blast would have been expected to give an inspired effort. It didn't come last night. Not even close. When at times it looked as if the home team didn't have enough players on the field, it was a "too many men" infraction midway through the fourth quarter that proved costly in the end against the Cleveland Crunch. Goran Vasic converted the one-point shootout goal that broke a tie and the lead held as the Crunch left a 13-9 winner over the Blast before 4,052 at the Baltimore Arena.

Dunbar senior guard Jujuan Robinson earned the nickname "Ice" when he was 9 years old, because a recreation league coach said he was "smooth as ice, and twice as nice." Nine years later, the nickname remains and it is still valid. Robinson came off the bench to score a team-high 22 points, had six assists and made four steals to lead the third-ranked Poets basketball team to a surprisingly easy 92-74 victory over No. 11 Southern-Baltimore in a Baltimore City League game last night at Dunbar.

Andre Williams' three-point play with under a minute to play was the difference, as the UMBC men's basketball team held on to defeat host Monmouth, 75-72, yesterday in a Northeast Conference game. The Hawks (8-7, 4-2) battled back from an 11-point deficit with 4:15 remaining to tie the score at 70 on a three-pointer by Dwayne Byfield, but Williams answered with the three-point play for the Retrievers (8-5, 4-2) on the ensuing possession. The Retrievers opened the second half with a 13-4 run, which along with a 47-31 rebounding advantage over the Hawks, proved to be the difference.