Payton Leads Oregon State Over UCLA

The sellout crowd at Gill Coliseum rose to its feet as Gary Payton, Oregon State’s point guard, walked off the court with 5 seconds remaining in Sunday’s game against UCLA.

After orchestrating the Beavers’ 82-69 win over the Bruins, Payton got a standing ovation.

It was well deserved.

The 6-foot, 3-inch junior played an outstanding game as Oregon State handed UCLA its first Pacific-10 loss. He had 20 points, 7 rebounds, 9 assists and a career-high 7 steals.

“Today there wasn’t a better guard in America,” UCLA Coach Jim Harrick said of Payton. “He might have the best pair of hands in America.

“I’ve been a big fan of his for years, but around the country, people don’t really know Gary Payton. They talk about (Syracuse guard) Sherman Douglas, and (Iowa guard) B.J. Armstrong and even Pooh (Richardson), but Gary Payton’s right in those guy’s league. Today Gary Payton was very special.”

Payton hit 5-of-9 shots, including 4-of-6 three-point shots and he made all 6 of his free throws.

“Before he’s through he’s going to be the best I’ve ever had,” Oregon State Coach Ralph Miller said of Payton.

Payton also impressed UCLA’s players.

“Payton played his usual phenomenal game,” said UCLA forward Trevor Wilson.

Although Payton hates being compared to Richardson, UCLA’s point guard, Payton outplayed Richardson in their fifth head-to-head meeting.

Richardson won’t soon forget having an easy first-half layup blocked by Payton, who materialized out of nowhere to swat away the shot.

“I think he (Payton) played well for his team,” Richardson said. “He did a great job today.”

Richardson had 13 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists before fouling out. Under relentless pressure from Oregon’s State’s aggressive defense, Richardson and the Bruins cracked. He had 6 turnovers as the Bruins gave the ball away 20 times.

“Pooh looked like he was on ice skates, didn’t he?” Harrick said. “He was out of sync.”

Richardson wasn’t the only Bruin who was out of sync.

Wilson also had a game he’d rather forget.

After missing 7-of-8 shots in the first half, Wilson wound up missing 9 of 12 and scoring only 6 points. He also had 5 turnovers.

“He missed 4 shots in the first five minutes that were 5-inch shots,” Harrick said. “Sometimes you can’t explain why kids go 1 for 8 on real easy shots they’ve been making all year.”

Wilson was out of control at times. As UCLA was running the clock down for a last shot at the end of the first half, Wilson got impatient and pulled up for a jumper, which he missed.

Although he scored a team-high 25 points, UCLA freshman forward Don MacLean also struggled.

MacLean missed 4 of 6 free throws in the first half en route to scoring just 6 points. He also lost his cool, exchanging words with Payton.

“It was just a little friendly chatter back and forth,” Payton said of his discussions with MacLean. “He told me, ‘I’m going to come back at you’ and I told him, ‘You can’t come back without the ball.’

MacLean and the Bruins didn’t have the ball much in the first half as Oregon State jumped out to a 39-29 lead at intermission.

The Beavers frustrated the Bruins with their pressing defense, forcing 12 turnovers.

Led by guards Eric Knox and Payton, the Beavers jumped on the Bruins from the start.

After being benched earlier this season, Knox is flourishing in his role as the Beavers sixth man.

Knox, a 6-2 senior from Inglewood, scored a team-high 23 points. He hit 8-of-12 shots, including 4-of-6 three-point shots. Knox also had 6 assists.

The Bruins rallied briefly in the second half, cutting the Beaver lead to 58-50 with 8 1/2 minutes left before Oregon State regained command. Oregon State led by as much as 17 points.

“I would flat out say they were probably waiting for us to come to Corvallis,” Harrick said. “We just got beat, give them the credit.”

UCLA fell to 8-3 overall and 3-1 in the Pacific-10. Oregon State is 9-3 and 2-2.

“All in all it was a fine victory,” Miller said. “We dug a hole for ourselves in December (with losses to Arizona and Stanford) and we needed this to dig ourselves out of the hole.”