No. 2 UCLA Almost No. 2 Against Oregon State, 87-81 : College basketball: Bruins catch Beavers in second half, then fail to hold five-point lead before eventually winning in overtime.

Don MacLean scored five of his 31 points in overtime as No. 2 UCLA held off Oregon State, 87-81, Saturday at Pauley Pavilion.

UCLA, off to its best start since 1975, trailed until midway through the second half and later let a five-point lead get away.

Tracy Murray gave the Bruins a 74-72 lead with two free throws 32 seconds into the extra period, and Mitchell Butler’s rebound basket gave UCLA the lead for good at 76-74 with 3:51 to play.

MacLean hit a free throw and a three-pointer to make it 80-75 with 1:31 left and the Bruins, 12-0 overall and 4-0 in the Pacific 10, were finally home free.

Oregon State (9-8, 1-3) scored the first eight points of the game and led until Murray’s free throw tied it 49-49 with 10:12 left in the game.

Reserve Tyus Edney gave the Bruins a lift with 11 second-half points, including five in a row to stake the Bruins to a 59-54 lead with 7:41 left. But Oregon State overcame that deficit, using Mario Jackson’s three-point play with 2:12 left to go ahead 70-68.

MacLean hit four straight free throws to regain the lead for UCLA, and Oregon State’s Karl Anderson made two with 11 seconds to go to force overtime.

Scott Haskin scored nine of his 19 points in the first 5:43 of the second half as Oregon State extended its two-point halftime lead to 47-40.

Redshirt freshman Ed O’Bannon, in his second game following a 15-month layoff for knee surgery, made his first field goal as a Bruin by converting a pass from Edney into a layup to pull UCLA to 49-44 with 12:41 remaining.

Edney capped a 10-0 UCLA run with two foul shots with 9:22 left to give Bruins a 52-49 lead.

Oregon State was without sophomore guard Earnest Killum, who was hospitalized after his second stroke in six months.

* THE SON ALSO RISES

After a shaky start, Joey Meyer found success as coach at DePaul----but his father still worries about him. C3