Reined-In UCLA Shakes Washington : College basketball: Bruins grouse at Huskies’ deliberate tactics after 74-61 victory. MacLean is held to seven points.

Midway through the first half of UCLA’s humdrum, 74-61 victory over Washington Thursday night at Pauley Pavilion, a fan in the student section tried to shame the Bruins into a more impressive performance.

“Bruins, you’re playing Washington,” he called out.

They didn’t need reminding.

Washington’s deliberate style brings out the worst in UCLA.

“They hold the ball for 40 seconds before taking a shot, and that wrecks our tempo,” UCLA guard Gerald Madkins said. “It’s hard for guys to adapt to that because we’re used to running up and down the court. But we’re going to have to play these types of games in the (NCAA) tournament.”

When they do, it would serve them well to be less sloppy.

“We were really trying to get the tempo up, and our press wasn’t as effective as we wanted it to be,” Madkins said, explaining that the Bruins’ impatience was a result of trying to force the action. “But a win’s a win. People can say, ‘They’re barely winning,’ but we’re winning.

“That’s all that counts.”

And despite getting a season-low seven points from Don MacLean, whose only single-figure scoring effort in more than two years left him 38 points short of replacing Lew Alcindor as UCLA’s all-time scoring leader, the Bruins never really were in danger of losing.

They improved to 16-1 overall and 7-1 in the Pacific 10 Conference, keeping pace with USC in the conference race, as forward Tracy Murray scored 22 points, guard Shon Tarver scored 13 and swingman Mitchell Butler scored 12 on six-for-eight shooting.

Washington, which got 18 points from reserve forward Chandler Nairn, fell to 9-9 and 3-5, losing for the fifth time in its last six games.

UCLA Coach Jim Harrick changed his starting lineup, sacrificing size for quickness and experience by inserting Butler, a 6-foot-5 junior, in place of struggling center Rodney Zimmerman, a 6-9 sophomore.

“We’ve just been a step slow, and that’s the reason I want to make the change,” Harrick said before the game. “Any team with quickness has jumped right on us, and we can’t let that happen.”

Harrick was tired of watching his team fall behind early.

“I don’t think we’ve played with the same intensity over 40 minutes since the Arizona game,” he said. “Somehow, we’ve got to come out and play 40 minutes. It’s February, and it’s time we stepped up our play.”

Butler won the tip from Washington’s 6-10 center, Rich Manning, but UCLA then missed seven of its first eight shots and fell behind, 7-2.

The Bruins quickly made up the deficit, outscoring Washington, 16-4, in the next eight minutes. UCLA took the lead for good at 11-9 on a three-point basket by Tarver, whose jump shot from the left wing was sandwiched between his two spectacular dunks.

By halftime, the Bruins had extended their lead to 37-25, overcoming their slow start by making 16 of their last 27 first-half shots.

Shooting 56% after halftime, UCLA increased its lead to 49-32 before the Huskies put together a 10-0 run and UCLA got careless.

But Washington, which has won only three of its last 22 conference road games, never got any closer.

Bruin Notes

Don MacLean, who has failed to score in double figures only four times in 111 games at UCLA, has averaged only 14.7 points against Washington, six below his overall average, in seven games. . . . UCLA Coach Jim Harrick, on MacLean’s impending UCLA scoring record: “Nobody has mistaken him for Kareem (Abdul-Jabbar). (But) he’s been a good player for us, I’ll tell you that. I’m glad I had him. We’re going to miss him.”