Bruins Take Time to Beat Santa Clara

It took a little longer than the crowd probably would have liked, but UCLA finally bucked the Santa Clara Broncos Saturday night.

UCLA’s sophomore point guard, Darrick Martin, engineered the final burst that enabled the 13th-ranked Bruins to overcome Santa Clara, 66-62, in their season opener in front of 8,761 at Pauley Pavilion.

“I thought they outplayed us most of the night,” UCLA Coach Jim Harrick said of the Broncos, who outrebounded UCLA, 45-24, on a night when the Bruins made only 37.3% of their shots. “But we stepped up and played hard down the stretch. The last six minutes, we executed a little bit better.”

A 10-0 run early in the second half enabled the Bruins to overcome a seven-point deficit, their largest of the night, and open a 40-37 lead, but they never led by more than three points until the final minutes.

It was 60-60 when Harrick put the game into Martin’s hands.

“We changed our offense a little bit to give him an opportunity to take the ball to the basket and create a little bit,” Harrick said. “He’s very, very good at that. We called that play two straight times.”

Both times, Martin delivered.

The first time, he drove into the lane, drew three defenders into the air with him and dished a no-look hook pass to forward Don MacLean, whose layup put the Bruins ahead, 62-60, with 2:11 left.

After center Kevin Walker intercepted a pass, the 5-11 1/2 Martin waited for the shot clock to run down before arching a driving four-foot jump shot into the basket, making it 64-60 with 1:18 remaining.

Both times, he drove past sophomore LaCoby Phillips, who was the Broncos’ point guard only because Melvin Chinn was out with an ankle injury.

“Our point guard was tired and didn’t move his feet,” Santa Clara Coach Carroll Williams said. “He also had a couple of reaching fouls just prior to those drives. You have to remember, the position was new to him.”

Martin added two free throws with 28 seconds left.

Trevor Wilson led UCLA with 19 points despite making only six of 18 shots, and MacLean scored 15 despite making only six of 16.

Wilson and MacLean scored all but 10 of UCLA’s 38 points in the second half.

Guard Jeffty Connelly, a senior who transferred from USC after his freshman year, made eight of 11 shots and scored 17 points in only 23 minutes to lead Santa Clara, which got 12 points and 15 rebounds from Nils Becker, a 6-10, 240-pound forward from Burgwedel, West Germany.

“He’s a great coach,” Harrick said of Williams, his friend and longtime nemesis from when Harrick coached at Pepperdine. “He got some guys to play better than they’ve probably ever played in their lives.”

But not quite good enough to beat UCLA, which is quicker, deeper and more talented than the Broncos.

How good are the Bruins?

“A top 12 team, anyway,” Williams said last week. “They’re way ahead of anybody around here.”

It didn’t look that way through a ragged first half.

Williams started a beefy lineup, including Becker and 6-11 center Karl Larsen, and brought an even bigger center, 7-1, 285-pound Ron Reis, off the bench. The Broncos used their considerable muscle to keep UCLA off the offensive boards.

It might not have mattered as much, though, if the Bruins had made more than 27.6% of their shots in the first half. Wilson missed all seven of his shots and MacLean made only one of six.

Santa Clara used a 6-0 spurt early in the game to open a 16-13 lead, increased its advantage to six points three times in the last seven minutes of the half and took a 31-28 lead into halftime.

Gerald Madkins, who 16 months ago fractured his pelvis in a traffic accident, made his first appearance for UCLA since the 1987-88 season, scoring nine points, all in the first half, and adding seven assists and four steals in 36 minutes.

In discussing Madkins’ comeback last week, Harrick said that the sophomore guard seems to grow more comfortable each day.

“You’ll not see anything spectacular,” Harrick said. “He’s not a spectacular flash-and-dash player, but he’s sound and solid. He’ll get into you and defend you and not make a lot of mistakes on the floor. And he’s very unselfish. All he does is help the team win.”