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Knox Scores 23 as UCLA Loses to Oregon State

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<i> Associated Press </i>

Eric Knox came off the bench to score 23 points Sunday as Oregon State handed UCLA its first Pacific 10 Conference loss this season, 82-69, in Gill Coliseum at Corvallis.

Gary Payton scored 20 points, and had 7 rebounds, 9 assists and 7 steals for the Beavers, 2-2 in conference play and 9-3 overall. UCLA is 3-1, 8-3.

Knox and Payton each made 4 of 6 3-point shots for the Beavers.

Don MacLean led UCLA with 25 points, including 19 in the second half, and 10 rebounds. Darrick Martin added 14 points and Pooh Richardson had 13.

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Oregon State used a pressing defense to take a 22-10 lead with 10:55 to play in the first half. Richardson’s 3-pointer helped UCLA pull to within 22-16 with 8:41 left in the half, but the Bruins could get no closer.

Oregon State led 39-29 at halftime, and stretched its lead to 58-31 on Payton’s 2 free throws with 11:13 left. UCLA scored 9 straight points to make it 58-50, but Teo Alibegovic and Bob Cavell scored for the Beavers to make it 62-50 and Oregon State held on to win.

UCLA had 12 turnovers in the first half and 13 in the second half. Oregon State had 13 turnovers total.

The victory was the No. 661 for Oregon State Coach Ralph Miller, the nation’s winningest active major college basketball coach. Miller will retire after this season.

UCLA’s first-year coach Jim Harrick said Payton’s play was the “key to the game.”

“He took us out of most of the things we try to do,” Harrick said. “He just dominated the game.”

“Today, there wasn’t a better guard in America.”

Harrick said the Beavers, who hit 63 percent of their shots from the field, “shot the lights out.”

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“I’d say ... they were waiting for us to come to Corvallis,” he said.

Miller was pleased with his team’s defense and with Payton’s performance.

“I thought on defense, on the half-court, we did a good job. We got UCLA out of their rhythm,” Miller said. “They didn’t get to establish continuity on their offense.”

Payton’s seven steals tied a school record.

“He always rises to the challenge in a game like this,” Miller said.

The victory was needed, he said, to “dig us out of the hole we dug for ourselves in December” when the Beavers dropped their first two conference games to Stanford and Arizona.

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