No. 1 in the Nation, First in Tournament : College basketball: Bailey sparkles as UCLA pulls away from USC in second half, 85-66, to clinch Pac-10 title..

Beautiful? No. Overpowering? Sorry, try again.

But UCLA, top-rated and testing the waters for a tournament run, survived some early uneasiness and the No. 1 jinx against a USC team ready to slug it out Wednesday night.

After battling, USC for a half, mostly unsuccessfully, the Bruins broke loose and had fun, blasting past the Trojans, 85-66, before 12,608 at Pauley Pavilion.

Freshman guard Toby Bailey led the Bruins with a career-high 24 points--17 in the second half.

In a 31-12 burst to start the second half that contained enough highlight-film goodies to last a few more weeks, UCLA, 22-2 and 14-2 in the Pacific 10, took command of the game and ensured a sweep of the Trojans for the first time in six years.

UCLA clinched the Pacific 10 title with the victory, became the first team in the nation to qualify for the NCAA tournament and handed USC (7-9, 2-14) its 12th loss in a row.

“I’m elated,” guard Cameron Dollar said. “But it’s just one goal we’ve accomplished. We have more. So we must move on.”

But with the Trojans looking stronger on the front line to start the game, UCLA had more than its share of top-spot jitters. The Bruins were voted No. 1 in the polls Monday for the first time this season.

“We didn’t have much focus coming into this game,” forward Ed O’Bannon said. “The hype kind of did it to us.”

UCLA Coach Jim Harrick said that the distractions of No. 1 contributed at least in part to the team’s flat start.

“It takes your focus away,” Harrick said. “I thought we were really lethargic in the first half.”

Said Dollar: “Just being No. 1 is a distraction in itself. There’s more press, more fans, more attention. That’s part of being No. 1. You have to learn to adjust your game to it.”

UCLA finally retook the lead, 42-41, with 17:14 left in the game on a layup by Tyus Edney, and that was followed by a tip-in by Bailey a minute later.

A couple of USC turnovers, a few missed outside shots, two Bruin offensive rebounds for points and soon the Bruins had a 48-41 lead with 14:35 remaining.

When Ed O’Bannon shook his first-half shooting struggles with a short jumper and a 25-foot three-pointer, giving UCLA a 53-42 lead with 12:50 remaining, the Bruins were ready to rumble.

“We had to shake the cobwebs off,” Bailey said. “At halftime, the coaches kept saying I should start shooting the ball. I don’t want to shoot every time I touch it, but they kept telling me to shoot. And that’s what I did in the second half.”

In the first half, USC got into a zone defensively--then went in a zone offensively, working the Bruin defense with its inside game. The Trojans, who were shooting only 43.3% as a team before Wednesday, made 50% of their shot (16 of 32) in the first half.

Lorenzo Orr, Jaha Wilson and Stais Boseman combined to score 28 of USC’s 39 points--with Orr and Wilson taking advantage of the Bruins with bruising inside play.

Meanwhile, Ed O’Bannon, who had been a one-man offensive sledgehammer and zone buster in the Bruins’ last five games, made only two of his six shots in the first half, and had five points.

Throw in the Bruins’ eight turnovers against the Trojans’ collapsing zone defense, and UCLA looked like a prime candidate for the curse of No. 1.

Only when Charles O’Bannon began attacking the basket on the fast break--he scored 11 in the first half--did UCLA go on a late 7-2 run to cut the halftime deficit to one, 39-38.

The Bruins, who have had off-and-on success from the outside this season, were only two of nine from three-point distance in the half and scored points almost solely from inside the key.

“We got kind of stagnant,” Dollar said. “We didn’t have enough touches. We shot some quick shots, long balls. And that’s not our style.”

Said USC Coach Charlie Parker: “I thought our defensive game plan was excellent, especially in the first half. What happened in the second half was that we started missing our shots, which forced long rebounds and we weren’t able to get back into our halfcourt defense.

“And once they got their running game going, that was it.”

The Bruins credited their second-half success to a tightened defense. USC shot 39.3% (11 of 28) in the second half, and overall, made only four of 21 three-point attempts.

On offense, UCLA, after making only 14 of their 33 shots in the first half (Edney missed all six of his tries), made 18 of 38 in the second (47.4%).

J.R. Henderson and Ed O’Bannon had 14 points for the Bruins. Orr and Wilson scored 16 points for the Trojans.

“You could almost see it coming,” Harrick said of the first half. “They’ve lost 11 straight.”

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Pac-10 Standings

CONFERENCE

Team W L UCLA 14 2 Arizona 11 4 Arizona State 10 5 Stanford 8 6 Oregon 8 6 Washington State 8 6 California 5 9 Washington 4 10 Oregon State 3 11 USC 2 14

* OVERALL

Team W L UCLA 22 2 Arizona 21 6 Arizona State 20 7 Stanford 17 6 Oregon 16 7 Washington State 14 9 California 13 10 Washington 8 15 Oregon State 6 17 USC 7 19

HOT TIP

Maryland’s Joe Smith scored 40 points and tipped in a basket at the buzzer for a 94-92 victory over Duke. C4