UCLA Shows It Can Win in Arizona : College basketball: Martin in control as Bruins jump to early lead over Arizona State and score 80-72 victory.

It was just 12 months ago that UCLA rode confidently into the desert, only to be ambushed twice in three days.

Swept by Arizona State and Arizona on a two-game trip, the Bruins were shot right out of the Pacific 10 Conference race.

It won’t happen this year.

A more cautious band of Bruins made sure of that Thursday night by overpowering Arizona State, 80-72, in front of 10,994--the largest crowd in seven years to watch the rejuvenated Sun Devils play an opponent other than Arizona in the University Activity Center.

Only mildly challenged after opening a 14-point lead in the first nine minutes, the Bruins (16-4 overall, 9-2 in the Pac-10) remained a game behind conference leader Oregon State.

The next stop is Tucson, where Saturday on national television the Bruins will take aim at the Wildcats’ 43-game home winning streak.

“By us winning this game, we’ll go into Arizona with a lot more confidence,” point guard Darrick Martin said. “We really want to break that streak over there. I think it would be right for us to do it because Sean Elliott broke that record against us last year.”

In UCLA’s 102-64 loss at Arizona last February, Elliott surpassed former Bruin Lew Alcindor as the Pac-10’s all-time leading scorer.

The Bruins faced nobody of that caliber against ASU, but ASU forward Alex Austin, who burned the Bruins for 31 points last month, drew as much defensive attention. Gerald Madkins and Mitchell Butler harassed him into six-for-20 shooting and limited him to 12 points.

Austin missed all nine of his three-point shots.

“We made a statement defensively,” Coach Jim Harrick said.

Arizona State (12-9, 5-7) made only 42.9% of its shots. Austin’s brother, Isaac, had 20 points and 14 rebounds for the Sun Devils.

Meanwhile, UCLA made 52.7%.

Don MacLean had 23 points and 10 rebounds for the Bruins, Tracy Murray scored 17 points, Trevor Wilson had 15 points and nine rebounds and Martin, orchestrating from the point, had 17 points and eight assists.

“Darrick Martin played a strong game, controlling the action and the tempo,” Harrick said. “He got us some layups, found guys open.”

He has done so quite regularly in the last three weeks.

Said Harrick: “Since the Stanford game, he’s just said, ‘Hey, this is my team. I’m going to direct it. No one can yell at me. No one can take me out of the game--(not) players, coaches, officials. I’m going to do what I know I can do. I’m going to get MacLean and Wilson and Murray the ball. I’m going to step up and run the fast break with great proficiency.’ ”

Martin, asked to fill the void left by the graduation last spring of Pooh Richardson, wasn’t always so forceful, but he’s learning.

“With each game, I’m getting more and more comfortable,” he said. “I think the most important thing is, I have the respect of my teammates. If I have that, it makes stepping forward that much easier.”

And if Martin steps forward, UCLA is that much better.

UCLA rolled to a 22-8 lead, making 10 of its first 16 shots while Arizona State missed 10 of its first 13.

“We wanted to come in here and make a statement and show everybody that we’re a good team and that we can win on the road,” Harrick said of the Bruins, who lost three of the previous four times they ventured outside of Westwood. “Now we’ve got to go and prove it again.”

Bruin Notes

Frank McIntyre, supervisor of basketball officials for the Pac-10, reviewed videotape this week of the UCLA-USC game Feb. 1 and said of Harold Miner’s phantom three-point basket: “I don’t know how in God’s name we missed it. I don’t know if it was just a moment where they, I don’t know, blacked out or something.” With 3:11 left in a game won by USC, 76-75, officials incorrectly gave USC’s Miner three points for a shot that should have counted for two. McIntyre phoned UCLA Coach Jim Harrick this week and apologized for the error. “It was a bad miss on our part,” McIntyre said.