Miller’s Last-Second Shot Gives UCLA a Win

Reggie Miller scored 19 points, including a 19-foot jumper with one second left in overtime Sunday, to lift UCLA to a 69-67 basketball victory over stubborn Oregon State and put the Bruins alone atop the Pacific-10 Conference.

UCLA (11-4) blew a 22-point lead but recovered in time to extend its at-home record to 8-0 and its Pac-10 mark to 6-2, breaking a first-place deadlock with idle California.

Jose Ortiz, who led Oregon State with a game-high 31 points, rebounded his own missed shot and converted a layin with 17 seconds left in the extra period to tie the score at 67.

But Miller, who overtook Gail Goodrich for fourth place on the all-time UCLA scoring list, hit his jumper from the left of the key to give UCLA its eighth consecutive victory.

Bill Sherwood’s three-point field goal with 36 seconds left in regulation play gave the Beavers their first lead, 59-58. UCLA regained the advantage on a three-pointer by Miller with 17 seconds.

Ortiz sent the game into overtime by hitting two free throws with seven seconds to go.

Ortiz scored 17 points in the second half, seven of them during a 16-2 run that pulled the Beavers to within 52-49 with 8:41 left in the game. Oregon State trailed 39-21 at halftime.

Shawn Freeman’s three-point field goal from above the key with 7:07 left trimmed the margin to two and Ortiz hit a pair of free throws with 5:09 left to tie the score at 54.

The Beavers’ offense was smothered throughout the first half by the tenacious Bruins, who forced 11 Oregon State turnovers in the half while riding Dave Immel’s pair of three-point field goals to a 10-0 lead.

Ortiz scored two of the Beavers’ first 14 points, including a pair of free throws that cut the margin to 18-10 before UCLA held Oregon State scoreless over the next 8:10. UCLA reeled off 14 points to build a 32-10 cushion with five minutes left in the first half.

“At the end of the first half, everybody thought the game was over,” said Oregon State Coach Ralph Miller, who has more wins than any other active Division I coach.

“We just kept coming back, playing good defense and controlling the tempo.”

The Beavers’ resurgence was orchestrated by freshman guard Gary Payton, who scored 18 points, and Ortiz, who pulled down seven of his game-high 12 rebounds in the second half and came within seven points of equalling his season scoring high.

“I didn’t think we’d get out of this one,” UCLA Coach Walt Hazzard said. “We were beating ourselves in the second half, missing layups, making turnovers and mental mistakes.

“Reggie Miller hit an All-American shot at the end of the game.”

It was the second time in the last three games that a last-second shot gave the Bruins the win. Craig Jackson sank one at the buzzer last Sunday at Tucson, Ariz., to give UCLA an 84-83 victory over the Wildcats.

“I told Pooh (Richardson) during the time out that I would be on the wing on one side or the other,” said Miller, who has scored 1,691 points in his UCLA career.

“I was a little surprised that I wasn’t double-teamed. I just gave a fake and (Earl) Martin went by me and I hit the shot.”

The partisan UCLA crowd of 11,106 counted down the final seconds of the first half prematurely to try to rush an Oregon State shot, which was missed.

Richardson, also seemingly fooled by the bogus countdown, grabbed the long rebound and forced a 60-foot bomb at the basket with several seconds left. The shot hit the backboard, but an alert Immel grabbed the rebound and converted a layin with one second on the clock.

The victory helped the Bruins equal their longest winning streak since 1984-85, when they won their last eight regular-season games.