Stanford Brings Out Worst in USC; UCLA Wins : Bruins Make It 52 in a Row Over Cal and Streak Within One Game of First

Children have their Care Bears, and UCLA’s Bruins still have the next best thing, their Cal Bears, whom they beat Thursday night for the 52nd straight game, thus pulling themselves back into the thick of the Pacific 10 basketball race.

The Bears tried the expected stall in steamy Harmon Gym, but the Bruins eased on past them anyway, 53-48, while a few hundred UCLA fans chanted, “52! 52!” for the benefit of their hosts.

UCLA has now won three straight games to go 12-11 overall and 9-5 in the conference, tied for fourth place with Washington but only one game out of first. The Bruins have home games coming up against the three teams ahead of them in the standings--USC, Arizona and Oregon State.

“USC lost, Arizona lost, we won,” a jubilant Coach Walt Hazzard said. “What a night!”

What a night, indeed. Harmon was like a sellout in a sauna. The game was tense and almost included a free-for-all, starting when the 6-6 Reggie Miller and Cal’s 6-4 Jeff Thilgen traded elbows and pointed fingers early in the game.

Thilgen was then waltzed away by Brad Wright, and everything seemed to cool down when suddenly Hazzard jumped into Thilgen’s face. Hazzard’s head was bobbing. He didn’t look pleased.

This prompted Cal Coach Dick Kuchen, a former assistant of that old UCLA favorite, Digger Phelps, to sprint from his bench to the other end of the floor.

Kuchen’s bench was right on his heels. The UCLA bench sprang up. Real trouble was narrowly averted.

“I was not angry,” Hazzard said. “I was not angry at all. There’s no way I would start anything. First, I held onto Reggie. Then I turned him over to one of my assistants. . . . I went to Thilgen and said, ‘Let’s forget it.’ I tapped him on the butt. . . . He shook my hand.

“That was when Coach Kuchen came roaring down from the bench. I apologize to him if I did anything wrong. I hope I covered all the bases.”

Thilgen said: “He (Hazzard) didn’t do anything but say, ‘Play basketball.’ ”

Kuchen said: “If one guy (Hazzard) is on the floor, I should be on the floor to see what’s happening. It turned out nothing was.”

A year ago, Kuchen hung out the same kind of delay game and took an eight-point second-half lead--Cal’s high point in 23 years of this series--before losing. He plays everyone that way, with his three guards easing in the ball from midcourt while two big men guard the corners.

The key was getting the lead. If the Bears could, they could waste some serious time.

And they did, going ahead, 12-6, when the one Bear that Hazzard decided to let shoot from the outside, Jim Beatie, knocked in his first two tries while Brad Wright zoned off the basket and waited for driving guards.

Hazzard went to Plan B, one of his players guarding each of Cal’s. The Bears went the last 8:25 of the first half without a field goal and the last 6:50 without a point.

The Bruins scored the last eight points of the half, six by Miller, who’d been in a shooting slump. Miller made two free throws without as much as grazing the rim while the Cal student body chanted “Cheryl! Cheryl!” Then he threw in a sort of side-winder 20-footer with the clock running down to end the half. Cheryl (Reggie’s sister), indeed.

With 7:02 gone in the second half, Cal was ahead again, 36-35. The Bruins had been called for six fouls in the second half, so Cal would be on the one-on-one. Cal had committed one. And Wright was on the bench with three fouls. The Bears’ chance was upon them.

Not for long, though. Chris Washington left the ball on the rim on a drive. Gary Maloncon rebounded it and, at the other end, hit a turnaround eight-footer from the baseline.

Shortly after that, Wright returned, got the ball on the low post, faked a shot, wheeled around Eddie Javius, hit a layup, was fouled and made the free throw. UCLA led, 40-36.

The Bears got within two points four more times, the last with 1:48 left, but no closer. UCLA, which has had trouble shooting free throws and winning close games, made 7 of its 10 free throws, including 2 for 2 by Corey Gaines, a 53% foul shooter. The Bruins had a two-point lead when the Bears started fouling them, and a seven-point lead at the end.

Thus the Bears completed 24 years of life in UCLA’s pocket. The Bruins went home to hunt bigger game.