Wilson’s Shot Bails Out UCLA : Pacific 10: Bruins waste 20-point lead before beating ASU, 79-78. They play Arizona for tournament title today.

When Alex Austin of Arizona State made a 20-foot shot with 43 seconds to play Saturday, wiping out the last three points of what had been a 20-point UCLA lead, teammate Mike Redhair got so excited that he tripped and slid across the floor.

“I thought we were going to win,” Redhair said.

Said teammate Mark Becker: “I thought we were invincible at that point. I didn’t think there was any way we could lose.”

Austin made a free throw after a timeout, completing a rare four-point play that gave Arizona State the lead for the first time since the second minute, but the Sun Devils’ celebration was premature.

UCLA’s Trevor Wilson made a 12-foot shot from the right baseline with 27 seconds to play, giving the Bruins a 79-78 victory in the semifinals of the Pacific 10 Conference tournament at ASU’s University Activity Center.

Wilson’s shot from behind the plane of the backboard put UCLA (20-9) into today’s final against Arizona (23-6) and almost certainly earned the Bruins a bid to the NCAA tournament.

But UCLA almost blew it.

After taking a 62-42 lead with 12:30 to play, the Bruins were outscored, 36-15.

“Coach kept telling us, ‘They’re going to let up,’ ” Austin said of the Sun Devils’ first-year coach, Bill Frieder.

Eventually, the Bruins did.

“You can’t help but feel secure when you’re up 20,” Wilson said. “We probably relaxed a little bit and didn’t execute our offense like you should. We just got a little lackadaisical.”

Arizona State roared back.

“We didn’t play well the first five minutes of the second half and dug a hole, but you can’t fault our effort,” Frieder said of the Sun Devils, who were outscored, 18-5, at the start of the second half. “We played almost perfect basketball in the last 15 minutes.”

Only an improbable shot by Wilson saved the Bruins.

The senior forward took a pass near the top of the key, drove hard toward the baseline against Becker and pulled up along the baseline.

“If I’d had any doubt, I wouldn’t have shot it,” Wilson said. “At times like that, you revert back to the playground and just create something. That’s why I like getting the ball down the stretch. It’s the one time Coach (Jim Harrick) gives me that freedom.

“Time and again, I’ve asked Coach to give me the ball in that situation. And probably nine out of 10 times, it has worked.”

One time it didn’t was three weeks ago. Wilson, a 39% free-throw shooter in the last six weeks, missed a foul shot with four seconds left in a 70-69 loss to Stanford at Pauley Pavilion.

“I thought about fouling him, but we had just fouled him intentionally and he made both (free throws),” Frieder said of Wilson, whose foul shots with 1:16 left gave UCLA a 77-74 lead. “He made a big-time shot.”

So did Austin, although replays indicated that his right foot had been on the three-point line when he shot with 43 seconds left. The shot should have counted for only two points.

“That can’t happen,” Harrick snapped later at a pressroom official who told him what the replays had shown.

But by then, of course, it didn’t matter.

Wilson had seen to that.

“I was in good position, but he just hit the shot,” Becker said of Wilson’s game-winning basket. “I probably should have fouled him on the drive just to make him hit some free throws, but you can’t look back and say what could have happened.”

Besides, the Sun Devils still had a chance to win.

However, Matt Anderson missed a three-point shot from the left wing with about five seconds left and UCLA’s 5-foot-11 point guard, Darrick Martin, batted the rebound out of Austin’s hands. Austin cried foul.

“Martin grabbed my arm,” Austin said. “I had the ball.”

Frieder agreed, but was reluctant to complain. “A lot of times down the stretch, you won’t get a call like that,” he said.

Said Martin: “It was definitely clean. I kind of hesitated at first and I wasn’t going to go for it because they were calling things close today.

“I saw Alex going for the ball with his arms extended, but I was able to reach up and grab it out of his hands.”

And ensure a victory that seemed destined for Arizona State.

“They got a great shot by a pretty good three-point shooter,” Harrick said of Anderson, who led the Pac-10 in three-point shooting accuracy last season. “They can’t complain about fouls or anything. They got a great shot to win the game.”

Frieder thought so, too.

“I’m proud of my guys,” he said of the Sun Devils, who upset top-seeded Oregon State in the quarterfinals and finished at 15-15. “Let UCLA worry about Arizona.”

Bruin Notes

Tracy Murray led UCLA with 19 points and 10 rebounds and Darrick Martin, who also had seven assists and six rebounds, matched a career high with 18 points, making seven of 10 shots. Don MacLean, who missed all seven of his first-half shots, made five of six in the second and scored 17 points. Trevor Wilson had 11 points and eight rebounds. . . . Alex Austin led Arizona State with 27 points and 10 rebounds. His brother, Isaac, scored 26 points.

UCLA has won at least 20 games in two consecutive seasons for the first time since the 1981-82 and ‘82-83 seasons. The Bruins haven’t been to the NCAA tournament two seasons in a row since the 1979-80 and ‘80-81 seasons. . . . The host school had never lost in the Pac-10 tournament. UCLA was 3-0 at Pauley Pavilion in 1987, Arizona was 3-0 at the McKale Center in 1988 and Arizona State was 2-0 before losing Saturday. Last year’s tournament was played at the Forum.

Said Alex Austin: “I’ve never seen UCLA play defense like that. Not to downgrade them, but they usually play a soft man-to-man.” . . . ASU Coach Bill Frieder said of the Bruins: “They could be a (NCAA) tournament factor because they are an excellent team. Unlike Oregon State, which we felt was heading in the wrong direction, UCLA is heading in the right direction.”

Wilson played in his 122nd game for UCLA, equaling a school record shared by Pooh Richardson and Reggie Miller. . . . UCLA beat Arizona at Pauley Pavilion, 73-67, in January, but lost to the Wildcats last month at Tucson, 83-74. . . . MacLean had 44 points and 26 rebounds in the two games.