Bruins Survive a Scare : UCLA: Sick MacLean sparks rally in final 7 1/2 minutes against Stanford as Bruins improve record to 14-0.

Moments after UCLA had rallied for an 83-77 victory over Stanford, overcoming a six-point deficit in the last 7 1/2 minutes Saturday before a sellout crowd of 7,500 at Maples Pavilion, a reporter asked Coach Jim Harrick if the Bruins had experienced a lull.

“Holy mackerel,” Harrick said. “I don’t think so. You call that a lull, pal, you don’t have a heart. Hell, we played our guts out.

“They’re a pretty good club. They keep people to 40% (shooting). There’s some reason for that. They outrebound people by 15 (some games). There’s some reason for that. I know what we’re in for when we come up here.”

The Bruins had lost five of their previous six games against Stanford, ending a five-game losing streak against the Cardinal last season at Palo Alto. They were outshot, 52.7% to 51%, and outrebounded, 39-26, this time.

But they overcame all that, taking advantage of a momentum-swinging technical foul against Stanford Coach Mike Montgomery and getting a big lift at the end from forward Don MacLean to improve to 14-0 overall, their best start since the 1972-73 season, and 6-0 in the Pacific 10 Conference.

Stanford fell to 11-3 and 3-2.

MacLean spent most of the morning in the bathroom of his hotel room. The 6-foot-10 senior has been sidelined for only two games during his 3 1/2 seasons at UCLA, including last year’s victory at Stanford, but he told Harrick he might not be well enough to play.

“We won up here last year without him,” Harrick said. “But I didn’t want to try it again. I was lucky once.”

In front of 14 NBA scouts, MacLean came out late for pregame warmups after one last trip to the bathroom and was badly outplayed for much of the game by Stanford senior Adam Keefe, who finished with 24 points, nine rebounds and seven assists while also guarding MacLean during the second half.

MacLean missed his first six shots of the second half, two of them air balls, as Stanford, which had used a 10-1 run at the end of the first half to open a 37-36 lead, went ahead by 63-57.

“I can’t ask Adam to do a much better job than that,” Montgomery said.

But MacLean finally broke loose down the stretch, scoring 11 of his 17 points and taking four of his six rebounds in the last seven minutes. His three-point play with 3:47 to play not only ended his shooting drought, but gave the Bruins a 72-69 lead.

They never trailed again.

“I just think I sucked it up at the end,” MacLean said. “I was out of it and the other guys were scoring, so I was just kind of playing--running up and down the court and going through the motions.

“Then, at the end, I decided, ‘Look, you’ve only got six or seven minutes left. Just push yourself through it.’ And I did.”

Said Keefe: “He’s a winner. That’s what winners do.”

Keefe, however, suggested that MacLean might not have found his rhythm if Montgomery’s technical hadn’t put him on the line for two free throws.

MacLean hadn’t made a shot in more than 24 minutes and hadn’t scored in more than 18 minutes when Terry Christman signaled a technical against Montgomery, sending MacLean to the line with 6:59 to play.

MacLean made both free throws and UCLA, retaining possession, then scored on a baseline jumper by Shon Tarver to complete a 10-3 run that included six points by Gerald Madkins and wiped out a six-point Stanford lead.

“I don’t think it affected us as much as it affected UCLA,” Keefe said of the technical foul. “They were in a bit of trouble at the time. I’m not going to blame Coach for the outcome of the game--the game’s won or lost on the court--but that’s really what they needed at that time.

“If there was anything they could have asked for, it was to get Don MacLean to the line and get him his confidence.”

MacLean took it from there.

Bruin Notes

Adam Keefe ran over to Stanford Coach Mike Montgomery after Montgomery was called for a technical foul. “I just asked him politely not to do that anymore,” Keefe said. Said Montgomery: “If my behavior at that point was any different than anybody else’s behavior throughout the entire game, I’ll let you be the judge of that.” His reference was to UCLA Coach Jim Harrick, who chased the officials off the floor at the end of the first half.

With UCLA focusing so much attention on Keefe, Stanford center Paul Garrett broke free for career highs of 19 points and 12 rebounds. A junior from Palisades High, Garrett has been a regular at Harrick’s summer camps, but Harrick didn’t recruit him. “He always told me, ‘You’ll regret it,’ and I just about did,” Harrick said. “He was fantastic.” . . . Forward Tracy Murray led the Bruins with 23 points. . . . UCLA’s 6-foot-5 reserve swingman, Mitchell Butler, had eight points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals and took several turns guarding the 6-foot-9 Keefe. . . . UCLA’s starting guards, Gerald Madkins and Shon Tarver, outscored their Stanford counterparts, Marcus Lollie and Peter Dukes, 25-4, with Tarver scoring 17 points. . . . Stanford made only 17 of 33 free throws.

* USC WINS

The Trojans overcome a five-point deficit in the final 41 seconds against Cal for their fifth consecutive victory. C2

* PLAYER COLLAPSES

Joe Rhett of South Carolina, who plays with a pacemaker, was in fair condition after being carried from the court against Mississippi State. C4