No More Reign for Arizona : College basketball: UCLA holds off late charge, 89-81, clinching at least a tie for Pac-10 title and ending Wildcats’ hopes for fifth crown in a row.

UCLA withstood a furious second-half rally by Arizona Thurday night to defeat the second-ranked Wildcats, 89-81, and earn at least a share of its first Pacific 10 Conference championship since 1987.

The Bruins, who lead USC by one game in the conference race, can claim the title for themselves by beating Arizona State Saturday or if Arizona beats USC.

Arizona, which fell short after rallying from an 18-point deficit, was denied a fifth consecutive Pac-10 championship.

The Wildcats, though, didn’t go down easily, making up all but two points of the deficit after seemingly being buried by the Bruins, who increased a six-point halftime lead to 66-48 with 10:45 to play.

UCLA, claiming only its third Pac-10 championship since 1979, never trailed in the last 33 minutes, using a balanced attack to build a big enough lead to hold off the hottest team in the conference.

Don MacLean, who scored 38 points in an 89-87 victory over Arizona in January, scored 28 this time to lead the Bruins, who got 23 from Tracy Murray, 12 each from Gerald Madkins and Tyus Edney and 11 from Mitchell Butler.

“Arizona is a program that we’ve been trying to catch, and we beat them twice,” Coach Jim Harrick said. “That’s quite a tribute to our kids.”

Arizona entered the game with a five-game winning streak.

Since losing back-to-back games to UCLA and Washington two months ago, the Wildcats had lost only once in 15 games, moving past UCLA to No. 2 in the national rankings while chasing the Bruins in the conference race.

During the 15-game stretch, Arizona outshot its opponents, 51.5% to 39.4%, while outscoring them by more than 20 points a game.

“We’ve been playing pretty good basketball, mainly keyed off our defense,” Arizona guard Matt Othick said this week. “If we play well defensively, we usually play well offensively.

“If we get some steals and get some easy baskets, it gives us confidence and our shooting percentage goes up. It makes it much easier to get into the flow when you’re getting easier baskets.”

They didn’t get many against the inspired Bruins.

UCLA did, making its first five shots, three of them layups and another a three-pointer by Murray, to open an 11-5 lead.

The Wildcats rallied to take a 19-17 lead on a short bank shot by Ed Stokes, but they then went more than six minutes without making a shot, missing seven and making five turnovers as UCLA outscored them, 10-1.

The highlight of the Bruins’ run, and of the half, was a baseline drive for a spectacular dunk by Butler.

A tip-in by Rodney Zimmerman, who had scored only two points in the Bruins’ previous 10 games, capped the run, brought a roar from the crowd and gave UCLA a 27-20 lead with 7:59 remaining in the half.

The Bruins increased their advantage to nine points late in the half, and opened the second half with a 42-36 lead.

Freshman guard Edney, starting the second half for UCLA in place of sophomore Shon Tarver, took charge of the offense and the Bruins ran away from the Wildcats, opening the half with a 24-12 run to take a 66-48 lead.

But Arizona rallied again.

A follow shot by Sean Rooks started a 12-4 run by Arizona that included two three-point shots by Othick and cut the Wildcats’ deficit to 70-60.

They continued to charge, pulling to within 76-74 on another three-point shot by Othick with 3:37 remaining.

After a timeout, however, UCLA ended the long run by the Wildcats, taking a 78-74 lead on a jumper by Murray.

At the other end, Damon Stoudamire missed a three-point shot, then Edney made an 18-foot jumper to make it 80-74.

UCLA then made seven of eight free throws in the last 68 seconds before Edney capped the scoring with a layup at the buzzer.

“We just needed to regroup,” MacLean said. “You expect a good team to come back. Maybe we did relax a little, but they have great players.”

“We played really well,” Harrick said. “It was a great win for our team. This is a landmark for this group of kids.”

Bruin Notes

Don MacLean made all eight free throws and leads the nation (157 of 170, 92.4%). UCLA officials are trying to determine if the 6-foot-10 senior would be the tallest player to lead the nation in free- throw percentage. Rod Foster established a UCLA record when he made 95% of his free throws during the 1981-82 season. . . . Tracy Murray has made 50% of his three-point shots (70 of 139), ranking fourth in the nation.

UCLA swept road series in Arizona, Oregon, Washington and the Bay Area for the first time since the conference was expanded in 1978.