O’Bannon Brothers Rescue UCLA From the Sun Devils : College basketball: Arizona State threatens to draw even closer in Pac-10 race before their heroics help Bruins win, 82-77, in overtime.

It took extra time, but the UCLA Bruins scrapped and hustled their way to an 82-77 overtime victory over the Arizona State Sun Devils Thursday night.

With a chance to put some space between themselves and one of the two teams chasing them in the Pacific 10 Conference race, the Bruins outplayed and outdefended the Sun Devils in overtime before 12,318 at Pauley Pavilion.

After a bumpy, uneven 40 minutes of regulation play, UCLA’s O’Bannon brothers took over in overtime.

UCLA took a five-point lead on a hanging jumper from Charles O’Bannon and a three-point basket on the next possession by Ed O’Bannon.

A blocked shot by Charles O’Bannon on the resulting Sun Devil series forced center Mario Bennett to force up an errant attempt as the shot clock expired. George Zidek made two free throws to give UCLA a seven-point lead, 75-68, with a little more than two minutes left in overtime.

But Arizona State pulled to within three on baskets by James Bacon, a turnover caused by its press, and a jumper from Isaac Burton. Tyus Edney missed one of two free throws, then Sun Devil freshman Jeremy Veal made a three-pointer to cut UCLA’s lead to 76-75.

But the Bruins’ six-for-six shooting from the free-throw line down the stretch--and a couple of Sun Devil missed jumpers--pulled it out at the end.

The Bruins raised their record to 17-2, 10-2 in conference play; Arizona State, which has lost in its last 13 attempts against UCLA, dropped to 18-6, 8-4.

Ed O’Bannon had 22 points and Charles O’Bannon had 23.

With one second left in regulation and the score tied at 66-66, the Bruins had one last chance, but Edney’s fallaway three-pointer from the corner fell just short.

It was UCLA’s first overtime game of the season.

At the three-minute mark, with the Bruins looking a little harried by Arizona State’s constant defensive pressure, the Sun Devils held a five-point lead, 64-59.

But, on the next three possessions, the O’Bannon brothers took over for UCLA.

Charles O’Bannon, playing one of his best games of the season, drove for a basket, his brother, Ed, caused a turnover, then Ed’s short jump hook was goal-tended by Bennett, narrowing the ASU lead to 64-63, with two minutes left.

Bennett, who had a big second half after a horrible first, scored on Arizona State’s next series, but Ed O’Bannon found Charles open inside for a bucket. Charles O’Bannon’s free throw on the resulting foul tied it, 66-66, with 52 seconds to go.

Arizona State called time out with 30 seconds left in the game--and 14 on its shot clock--to set up the key possession. When play resumed, Burton went one-on-one against Charles O’Bannon, scooped up a shot that was tipped on its way to the hoop, and the ball spun out.

Ed O’Bannon grabbed the rebound and called time out with 19 seconds left before he fell out of bounds underneath the Sun Devil basket to set up the Bruins’ last possession of regulation.

In a game that didn’t start until 9 p.m. for television purposes, both teams opened erratically, frenetically and without much offensive success.

The Sun Devils turned the ball over five times in their first 12 possessions and made only 11 of 29 shots in the half. Bennett, in particular, struggled to hold onto the ball throughout the half.

UCLA, meanwhile, had its own problems against the Sun Devils’ man-to-man full-court press, turning the ball over nine times in the first 20 minutes.

Bennett, the Pac-10’s ninth-leading scorer with a 17.8 points-per-game average before Thursday, lost the ball several times when Bruin defenders collapsed on him and scored only two baskets--and committed six of ASU’s 12 turnovers--in the half.

While Arizona State fumbled, UCLA gradually edged out to a 26-16 lead with 3:30 left in the half, triggered by eight points from Ed O’Bannon and six from Charles O’Bannon, who led the Bruins with seven rebounds in the half.

But three-pointers by Ron Riley, Marcel Capers and Burton narrowed the gap to one point. UCLA closed the half on a 6-2 run, and led at halftime, 32-27.

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Pac-10 Standings

Through Thursday’s games

CONFERENCE OVERALL Team W L W L UCLA 10 2 17 2 Arizona 9 3 19 5 Arizona State 8 4 18 6 Oregon 7 4 15 5 Stanford 7 5 16 5 Washington State 7 5 12 8 Oregon State 3 8 6 14 California 4 8 12 9 USC 2 10 7 15 Washington 2 10 6 14