UCLA Takes Sting Out of Stanford : Bruins Make Up for Earlier Loss, Routing Cardinal, 91-69

It was payback time, and the Bruins outdid themselves in settling the score.

Still stinging from the game that they lost at Stanford in double overtime earlier in the season, UCLA came out pressing, clearing the defensive boards and running the fast break to perfection for a 91-69 victory Thursday night before a crowd of 7,453 at Pauley Pavilion.

UCLA (15-13 overall) moved ahead of Stanford in the Pacific 10 standings, taking over sole possession of third place with a record of 11-6, behind second-place Oregon State (12-5). Stanford (18-10 overall) dropped to fourth place at 10-7.

“We got outplayed, outphysicaled and outrun,” Stanford Coach Mike Montgomery said. “It was a different UCLA team tonight than in the first game, but it was a different Stanford team, too. . . . We seemed to lose heart a little bit.”

UCLA could have broken a lot more opponents’ hearts this season by playing the kind of game it played Thursday night.

“This is the right time for us to be playing well,” UCLA Coach Walt Hazzard said.

The Bruins have just one regular-season game left, Sunday against Cal, before the Pac-10 tournament begins next week.

“This was one of our best all-around efforts of the year,” Hazzard said. “We had great balance and we played very unselfishly. We were good at the defensive end at the start of the game and that got our fast break going.”

The Bruins had a 39-32 lead at halftime but had led by as many as 11 points earlier. The Bruins went up, 25-14, on a three-point play by Pooh Richardson that was typical of the Bruins’ advantage in the game. Center Kelvin Butler started that play by fielding an airball and getting the quick pass out to Richardson, who scored on a driving layup while being fouled by Scott Meinert.

There was no doubt which team was in charge and controling the tempo.

But unlike other games in which the Bruins flexed their muscles in spurts and stretches, this time they kept the intensity from start to finish.

UCLA came out just as strong in the second half. The Bruins’ lead was 18 points with 12:57 left. Dave Immel made it 61-43, scoring on a driving layup on a bounce pass from Richardson.

Immel finished with 10 points, low man of the starters. But Immel was busy trying to contain Stanford’s star guard, Todd Lichti, who was limited to 18 points, just below his average of 19.5. Immel had a lot of help in that endeavor from freshman Gerald Madkins.

Hazzard said: “Lichti is tough to control, but I thought we did a good job on him. He wasn’t the factor he might have been. We shut down their half-court offense. On Lichti, we made sure we were in position so he couldn’t pop open.”

The top Bruin scorer was forward Trevor Wilson, who made 8 of 12 shots and 3 of 4 free throws for 19 points. Butler had 18, Richardson 16 and forward Craig Jackson 15 for the balanced scoring that Hazzard has been looking for.

“Craig Jackson had one of his best games ever at UCLA,” Hazzard said.

It all added up to one of UCLA’s best games of the season and left Stanford with an 0-23 record at Pauley Pavilion.

For Stanford, which had held onto second place in the Pac-10 standings most of the season, it was the second straight tough loss and the second drop in the standings.

“We took a kick in the teeth when we lost to Oregon State (by two points) at our place,” Montgomery said. “We really need to regroup before Saturday.”

The Cardinal wraps up its regular season at USC Saturday.

Montgomery said, “We were disappointed in our inability to compete. . . . But UCLA did the things that UCLA does best. UCLA is probably a better team than some of you down here are giving them credit for.”

Bruin Notes

The technical foul on sophomore forward Trevor Wilson Thursday night was his fourth of the season. . . . Stanford guard Todd Lichti has scored in double figures in 35 straight games. . . . Bruin forward Kevin Walker, who earlier in the season was a scoring threat off the bench, is still trying to work his way back from an ankle injury suffered almost a month ago. Against Stanford, Walker came off the bench to go 0 for 5 in the first half. He finished 0 for 6, but scored two points on free throws. . . . Stu Meinert, a redshirt freshman for the Bruins, made his first appearance of the season, getting in the game at the end while his brother, Scott, a junior for Stanford, was still on the court. Meinert, from Salem, Ore., is recovering from off-season knee surgery. . . . UCLA Coach Walt Hazzard and USC Coach George Raveling are interviewed weekly on a coaches’ show on Channel 2 at 5 p.m. . . . UCLA’s last game of the regular season is Sunday at 3 p.m. against Cal at Pauley Pavilion.