PACIFIC 10 TOURNAMENT : Bruins Finally Pull Away in Second Half : UCLA Turns Up the Pressure, Runs Past Washington, 64-54

According to Coach Jim Harrick, the UCLA basketball team ran through a series of great practices this week in preparation for the Pacific 10 Conference tournament.

Practice, though, did not make perfect Friday night at the Forum, where the Bruins struggled through all but the last 10 minutes of a 64-54 victory over Washington in the quarterfinals.

Practice made mediocre.

But that was enough on a night when Don MacLean scored 18 points to become the Pac-10’s all-time leading freshman scorer and Pooh Richardson contributed 13 points and nine assists while limiting Eldridge Recasner, Washington’s leading scorer, to six points.

“It was really hard for us to play because of the delay style they used,” said Harrick, whose team finally unleashed its running game and shook the Huskies with a 12-0 run that gave the Bruins a 46-36 lead with 5 minutes 37 seconds left. “We weren’t patient.

“But our pressure finally took them out of what they wanted to do.”

The victory improved UCLA’s record to 20-8 and advanced the Bruins into today’s semifinals, where they will meet 12th-ranked Stanford (25-5) in a 3 p.m. game that will be televised by Channel 2.

A Stanford victory would end generations of frustration.

Stanford, a 66-61 winner over USC Friday night, has lost 40 consecutive games to UCLA in Los Angeles, last beating the Bruins here at the UCLA Men’s Gym, 73-71, on Jan. 5, 1952, in John Wooden’s fourth season.

How long ago was that?

At that time, reporters referred to Wooden as Johnny.

The streak includes 24 Bruin victories at Pauley Pavilion, the most recent a 74-70 decision last Dec. 23 in which MacLean had 26 points and 12 rebounds and Richardson had 16 points and 10 assists.

A month later, on a day when Richardson and Trevor Wilson spent much of the first half on the bench because of foul trouble and the Bruins were whistled for a season-high 31 fouls, Stanford made 57.1% of its shots and defeated the Bruins, 84-75, at Maples Pavilion.

Including that game, which came two days after a 74-65 Cardinal loss at California, Stanford has won 12 of 13 games. The Cardinal has won 10 straight since a 72-52 loss to Arizona Jan. 29 at Tucson, its longest winning streak in 27 years.

Sunday, the Cardinal is expected to be included in the draw for the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. tournament for the first time since 1942, when Stanford, then known as the Indians, won the NCAA championship in its only appearance in the tournament, which began in 1939.

Washington, meanwhile, will be back home in Seattle Sunday, apparently relieved that its season is over.

The Huskies (12-16) lost nine games by 14 or more points, and the relationship between Coach Andy Russo and his players was such that Recasner reportedly told Russo at a team meeting in December: “No one really respects you, so we don’t want to win for you.”

UCLA twice rolled over the Huskies, romping at Seattle in January, 93-74, and then winning even more easily two weeks ago at Pauley Pavilion, 101-78.

This time, though, both teams started cold.

Washington led at halftime, 25-23, at one point holding the Bruins without a field goal for almost 6 1/2 minutes in the first half.

The Huskies, though, never got too far ahead because they went more than five minutes without a field goal at about the same time.

Midway through the half, forward Mark West scored eight straight points during a 12-3 run by Washington that took the Huskies from a 13-9 deficit to a 21-16 lead in a five-minute span.

UCLA, which made only 39.1% of its shots in the half, caught up with a 7-2 run of its own, but Jeff Sanor made two free throws with 1 minute 20 seconds left to give the Huskies a 25-23 advantage.

Washington outrebounded the Bruins, 16-8, in the first 20 minutes and also made 50% of its shots, but committed 10 turnovers.

West led the Huskies with eight first-half points and Dion Brown, a sophomore forward from Crenshaw High, scored seven.

Center Kevin Walker led UCLA with seven points.

Bruin Notes

UCLA’s Don MacLean has scored 524 points in 28 games. Stanford’s Todd Lichti scored 516 in 32 games as a freshman in the 1985-86 season. . . . UCLA’s Pooh Richardson, who had nine assists, needs two to surpass Russell Brown, formerly of Arizona, and become the Pacific 10 Conference’s all-time assist leader. . . . Lichti scored 18 points in each of Stanford’s two games against UCLA this season, but made only 13 of 33 shots. . . . Kevin Williams, a reserve guard for UCLA who had arthroscopic surgery on his left knee two weeks ago, is probably out for the season, Coach Jim Harrick said. . . . UCLA’s Trevor Wilson, who scored 16 points, missed all eight of his free throws.