UCLA Plays the Game of ‘Who’ll Get J.R.?’ and Beats Cal, 76-63

Only time will tell the importance of UCLA’s 76-63 victory over California Thursday night before 10,462 fans, the biggest crowd this season at Pauley Pavilion.

The Bruins needed the victory to break out of the mood set by two losses on the road last weekend. They also needed it to get even for their loss at Berkeley earlier in the season, ending a 52-game winning streak over Cal.

And they needed it to move into a four-way tie for third place with the Bears, Stanford and Oregon State in the Pac-10 at 7-6. UCLA’s overall record went to 12-10, Cal’s to 15-8.

But if this game made the kind of impression on an honored guest in the crowd that UCLA Coach Walt Hazzard hoped it made, the victory could turn out to be of monumental importance to the Bruin program.

Sitting next to former Coach John Wooden Thursday night was 6-10 prep star J.R. Reid from Virginia Beach, Va. He’s regarded by most recruiting experts to be the No. 1 recruit in the nation this time around.

It certainly would be quite a coup if Hazzard could lure Reid away from the powers of the East.

At the end of the first half, the Bruins were not looking like the kind of team that anyone would want to join.

But they rallied.

UCLA center Jack Haley, a 6-10 junior, had his best game yet. He didn’t miss a shot (3 of 3 from the field and 6 of 6 from the foul line) for a career-best 12 points.

Haley also had 12 rebounds, a contribution that was instrumental in shutting down Cal’s big man, Leonard Taylor.

In the first half, Taylor led Cal with 15 points, getting most of them off offensive rebounds. In the second half, Taylor had just two rebounds and made just one more basket.

Cal’s scoring burden was left almost entirely to guard Kevin Johnson, who finished with 24 points.

Meanwhile, UCLA forward Reggie Miller was leading his team with 27 points. And UCLA guard Montel Hatcher, who has been fighting a shooting slump, made 6 of 10 shots, all from long range, to add another 12 points.

Hazzard said: “It was a good team win. A lot of people played well for us.

“Both Jack Haley and Reggie Miller played well tonight. Craig Jackson was steady, too, and helped Haley keep Taylor off the boards. . . .

“Haley’s progress is a direct result of his own hard work.”

Haley found fault with his effort, though, in looking back on the final minutes of the first half, when UCLA was letting a 10-point lead slip away.

Haley said: “Without a doubt, we had an intensity loss. I felt it myself. If there is one thing I try to do, it’s create tempo with some high-spirited work. I definitely felt the loss of intensity. . . . But we went back out in the second half and got it back.”

Hazzard thought that maybe his team “ran out of gas” at the end of the first half, so he substituted more freely in the second.

But there was a lapse in the second half, too, and if Cal had made some free throws, it would have been tied with just under four minutes left in the game.

UCLA was leading, 59-48, after Haley made two free throws. But Cal scored seven straight points before two free throws by Miller slowed them down a bit.

Taylor’s dunk off a lob pass from Johnson had the Bears within four points.

When Taylor’s defensive rebound sent guard Jeff Huling on a fast break, Huling drew the intentional foul on the Bruins’ Corey Gaines and went to the line to shoot two free throws.

Huling made the first to put the Bears within three points (on a run of 10-2) but he missed the second.

Cal then got the ball out of bounds because of the intentional-foul call, and Miller fouled Dave Butler, who missed the front end of the one-and-one.

Cal Coach Lou Campanelli said: “If we made our free throws, it might have come down to a buzzer shot, and on the road that’s not too bad. No matter how hard we play, or how many field goals we make, you’ve got to hit your free throws. UCLA was 18-21 from the line in the second half, and we were 8-18. It’s hard to keep a rally going when that happens.”

It was the other way around in the first half, with Cal 9-13 from the line and UCLA 0-1.

Cal came back in the last 5 1/2 minutes of the first half to score 13 straight and lead at intermission, 35-32.

UCLA was up, 32-22, when Cal called a timeout with 5:26 left. But the Bruin lead had been cut to four points when UCLA called a timeout with 3:24 to play.

Nothing that was said in that timeout stopped the Bears’ roll, however. Huling swished an 18-footer from the right wing to close the gap to just two points before the game got a little wild.

Haley let an offensive rebound slip away from him, but at the other end, Chris Washington sent a hot pass sailing out of bounds past an unsuspecting target. However, the Bruins went scoreless again when Taylor came down with a defensive rebound that sent Huling to the hoop on the fast break.

Huling was fouled by Hatcher and made one of two shots to put Cal within a point.

Haley’s lob pass to Miller skimmed off Miller’s fingertips and out of bounds, giving the ball back to Cal for Johnson’s drive for a basket that gave Cal the lead.

Again Haley got his hands on an offensive rebound and then lost it, this time into the hands of Washington. Miller fouled him in the backcourt, but Washington missed the front end of his one-and-one.

UCLA had just lost the ball out of bounds with 31 seconds left before halftime when Hazzard was hit with a technical foul.

Washington made those free throws to give Cal its three-point lead.

Bruin Notes J.R. Reid, who was at the game while being recruited by UCLA, had Coach John Wooden sitting beside him and former Bruin Marques Johnson of the Clippers sitting behind him. The student section chanted “J.R., J.R., J.R.”--just in case that wasn’t enough. . . . UCLA has won 53 of the last 54 games against Cal. Cal has lost 28 straight games to UCLA in Southern California. The last time the Bears beat UCLA in Los Angeles was during the 1959-60 season. . . . There seemed to be an exchange of words between UCLA Coach Walt Hazzard and Cal Coach Lou Campanelli after the game, but Campanelli shrugged it off, saying, “That’s between me and Coach Hazzard.”