COLLEGE BASKETBALL / NCAA MEN’S TOURNAMENT : Tense-to-Taunts Is the Cure

Halftime, in the hallway:

“Hey. Hey, U. . .C. . .L. . .A.”

Gerald Madkins gave the guy a Robert DeNiro sort of look of disbelief and asked: “You talking to me?”

He must have been, because Gerald was the only one there.

“Yeah, talking to you ,” said sophomore forward Shelton Carney of Robert Morris. “Talking to you, UCLA. Sorry, but you guys just didn’t come to play.”

The rest of the Bruin basketball team was a few steps behind, ascending a staircase. It was halftime and the score was 26-22, in its favor.

It was a basketball game so ugly, it should have been officiated by a plastic surgeon.

But at least the Bruins were winning.

That is why the last thing the UCLA team captain expected was for some guy from Robert Morris to be yakking some you-ain’t-so-tough stuff right in his face.

Then the rest of them joined in.

“Like a chain reaction,” Madkins said. “First one guy, then another, then another, right in my face. ‘Sorry, looks like UCLA didn’t come to play.’ ‘Sorry, you guys ain’t showing me much.’ Unbelievable. ‘Sorry. Sorry.’ Hey, I’ll give them sorry.

“I was the first one in the hallway. My teammates didn’t hear it.”

Did he let them know?

“I kicked a few chairs,” Madkins said.

Then he kicked a few butts.

Madkins came out pumped and pumping in a 73-53 victory for UCLA, making three three-pointers after a scoreless first half, scoring a season-high 16 points and shutting down as well as shutting up Robert Morris during the first round of the NCAA tournament’s West Regional here Friday night.

Mitchell Butler, his teammate, didn’t know whether to blame or thank the Colonials for mouthing off.

“They pretty much wrote the script to their own death,” Butler said.

How not to succeed in business, starring Robert Morris.

There these guys were, the 16th choice in a 16-team regional, face-to-face with a UCLA team so tight it needed four full minutes to find the hoop.

This was no time to be taunting anybody, much less the regional favorites.

The Bruins had enough on their minds as it was.

“I didn’t relish the thought of going back to Los Angeles losing this one,” Coach Jim Harrick said. “Assuming they’d let me back.”

Was UCLA tight?

Harrick could have bluffed an answer, pretended otherwise.

“I think that the whole team was uptight. I think that I was uptight. The guy who drove us over looked at us and said: ‘Man, you guys look a little nervous.’ ”

He watched the first few minutes in absolute agony.

“Churning inside,” Harrick said.

It wasn’t much better for the players. By halftime, four starters had combined for one basket. Tracy Murray was the only one whose palms didn’t seem to be wet.

Tyus Edney, the freshman thrown into the fray, watched one fast break fail after another. But Robert Morris was no better.

“It was like a battle for the first point,” Edney said. “Like, ‘who’s going to get it?’ And ‘when?’ ”

After a bad half, UCLA went to the locker room to try to regroup.

Said Harrick: “I was still churning inside at halftime, but you know what? I never once thought they would beat us.”

But the Robert Morris players did.

They provoked Madkins, who has a habit of playing better in tournament games than he does during the regular season. And Shon Tarver picked up the scoring slack. And Don MacLean started making free throw after free throw--could have made more, Harrick said, because “he only got fouled out there about 30 times.”

And before you could say, “Hey, UCLA,” UCLA prevailed.

“Shouldn’t get Gerald mad like that,” Butler said. “Un uh. Bad idea.”

Ed O’Bannon stepped in and helped out. So did Darrick Martin. The Bruins called in the reinforcements, and got, well, reinforced.

None of them relished going home losing this one.

“It’s a relief,” Butler said.

Particularly after that first half. It wasn’t merely ugly. It was gruesome. It was something out of Dick Tracy. Basketballs being dribbled off knees. Shots conking off the side of the backboard.

That must be why the Colonials came looking at halftime for the real “U. . .C. . .L. . .A.” Because this one was definitely u. . .g. . .l. . .y.

“Hey, I know things get said in the heat of the moment,” Madkins said. “But I have respect for every opponent. Doesn’t matter if they’re Duke or the No. 16 team. I just don’t think that was called for.”

So it was ugly. Big deal.

Looking good isn’t half as important as being alive.