Huskies Rumble Past UCLA in Second Half

The Bruins of UCLA met the Huskies of Washington at High Noon Saturday, with the losers invited to get out of town, the Pacific 10 race or both.

At halftime, the losers looked like the Huskies, who were trailing, 33-22, and crumbling.

At the end of the game, it was the Bruins who had crumbled last. The Huskies scored the first 12 points of the second half, turned the game around and won it, 67-61, handing UCLA its fourth straight loss and a ticket to fifth place in the conference. Sorry, podners.

The game was a semi-rumble from start to finish, highlighted by the continuation of Nigel Miguel’s tag-team match with Detlef Schrempf. The Bruins, however, slacked off on the elbowing for the first few minutes of the second half. By the time they regained their poise, they were headed south in the standings.

“They started hitting their shots, and we came out flat,” UCLA Coach Walt Hazzard said. “Don’t ask me why, I don’t know. We called time out and tried to pull things together, but it didn’t happen.”

Miguel said: “We came out flat. I think we were kind of complacent.”

The Huskies had gotten their complacency out of the way in the first half. They took a 5-0 lead in the first 1:14 and were then shut out for a full 7:35. The Bruins took a seven-point lead, held for the last shot of the half, got two points on Dave Immel free throws and then a last basket when Brad Wright intercepted Clay Damon’s pass at half-court and drove in for a layup.

At this point the Huskies, defending conference co-champions, NCAA regional semifinalists and consensus conference preseason picks, were contemplating the end of their season.

“We talked about that,” Washington Coach Marv Harshman said. “I asked them, ‘Do you want to end the season? If that’s so, fine, you can play out the schedule and pack your bags.’ ”

The Huskies charged back out and scored on their first possession as West German Chris Welp, who scored 24 points, hit a 15-footer on a third shot. Hazzard’s defensive motto is One Bad Shot. Harshman’s offensive motto is As Many As It Takes. This time, the Huskies won.

They proceeded to pound the ball inside often enough to score 10 more points in a row. UCLA, meanwhile, took a few silly shots and turned the ball over a few other times.

“Yeah,” said Schrempf, also from West Germany, “it seemed like maybe they were overconfident. They were up by 11. They had an easy time out there the first half and we were struggling. I know they took a few shots Walt Hazzard didn’t want them to take, pulling up way out.”

Schrempf’s first half was all struggle. This was supposed to be Det’s Revenge for what Miguel and Craig Jackson did to him in Pauley Pavilion, holding him to 2 for 7 and four points. Revenge came a little slowly, though.

Schrempf scored his first point on a free throw with 5:58 left in the first half, the first thing he’d hit all day that he was aiming at. He had already missed five shots from the floor and had thrown two passes out of bounds, including one lob that he floated into the row of photographers behind the court.

He and Miguel jockeyed for position all day. There was one minor skirmish between them in the first half that ended with Brad Wright jumping into Schrempf’s face.

How you saw it depended, of course, on your mailing address.

According to the visitors from Westwood:

Miguel: “I told the referees to watch it both ways. I’m at a disadvantage anyway. I just can’t stand to see people play soft. He’s 6-9 1/2. I don’t know how much he weighs. As aggressively as he plays, he can’t be asking for fouls, too.”

Hazzard: “I guess Marv Harshman’s words about the refereeing were heard. They might as well have played tackle football today, the way Schrempf and Welp played.”

And the guys from Seattle:

Schrempf, who finished with 14 points and 10 rebounds: “He (Miguel) is a good defensive player but he gets a lot of help over the top. I wouldn’t say he’s a rough player. He tries to intimidate you with his talking but talking doesn’t impress me. . . . They try to intimidate you. That (Schrempf’s faceoff with Wright, who had 21 points and 10 rebounds) was a childish thing. That’s their style. That’s what Walt Hazzard has brought to them. They’ve got a lot of pride in their defense. They play with a lot of heart, go after you.”

Harshman: “I never had a player beaten up as badly as Schrempf was in Los Angeles, by Miguel and whoever else could get to him. That’s the difference between this team and (John) Wooden’s teams. Their philosophy now is to intimidate you. They try to intimidate you early. Sometimes they give you cheap shots. That’s kind of what’s being said around the league. We’re not angels, but I don’t think you see us under-cutting guys, giving you that off-arm shot across the throat.”

Aside from that, the two sides were in material agreement.

The Huskies took a seven-point lead with 4:55 left in the game. The Bruins had closed to three with 2:30 left, and then Reggie Miller missed a 20-footer right in front of Hazzard that Hazzard didn’t seem to care for too much.

Second-guessing Miller’s selection is a little problematic, since his judgment is offset by his courage and his 53.4% shooting percentage. Hazzard said later that he’d called a play but that Miller must not have heard him.

The Bruins got within four points three times in the last 1:48. The last time, they had a chance to cut it to two, but Miguel missed an open 17-footer from the baseline. Schrempf, fouled on the rebound, made two free throws and that was about it. The Bruins moseyed off. Do not forsake me, meine lieber .

Bruin Notes

Gary Maloncon played six minutes, scored no points, took no rebounds. In his last three games, his playing time has been 26-30-6. His point totals have been 6-8-0, his rebound totals 6-3-0. Freshman Kevin Butler played 21 minutes at the big forward and freshman Craig Jackson 10.