COLLEGE BASKETBALL / NCAA MEN’S TOURNAMENT : UCLA Easily Makes Its Way Over the Glass Slipper, 92-56 : West: Bruins have no trouble with 16th-seeded Florida International. Missouri is next hurdle.

UCLA faced the fairy tale Friday night, and the fairy tale got flattened.

Showcasing their size, skill and, most of all, their degree of mercy, the Bruins ended Florida International’s Cinderella hoop dream in a hail of fast-break layups before 11,663 at Boise State University Pavilion, then called off the dogs before the first half was over.

The victory in the NCAA West Regional first round moved the top-seeded Bruins into a second-round matchup here Sunday against Missouri, which defeated Indiana.

UCLA, which has dreams of its own this year, won the game, 92-56, but, after a brief early stall, substituted liberally and probably could have named the final score.

“From our standpoint, it couldn’t have been scripted any better,” UCLA Coach Jim Harrick said. “We played everybody, and everybody scored.”

Said outgoing Golden Panther Coach Bob Weltlich: “How can we assimilate their fast break or practice against it? If we could, we wouldn’t be 11-18. It’s relentless.”

Though UCLA (26-2) seemed in control at all times, the Golden Panthers, whose 18 defeats made them the losingest team to make the NCAA field since 1961, nipped at the Bruins’ heels the first seven minutes.

With 13:09 left to play in the half, after the Bruins failed to convert on four consecutive possessions, the score was top-ranked UCLA 9, Florida International 7.

“We wish it would’ve ended right there,” Florida International forward James Mazcyk said with a smile. “It showed they were as human as we are, that they make mistakes.”

Not for long. The Bruins quickly huddled, then revved their engines--scoring on their next nine possessions, mostly finishing easy fast breaks by outrunning FIU (11-19) down the floor.

Before Harrick began going deep into his bench, with 2:45 left in the first half, it was 40-19.

For the Bruins, seeking to erase their memories of last year’s first-round loss to Tulsa, the key goal Friday was to stay sharp for as long as possible against the Golden Panthers, who all year didn’t score as much as UCLA’s per-game average, 87.8

“We wanted to just basically not take them lightly,” said senior forward Ed O’Bannon, who was pulled for good after a brief stint in the second half and played only 20 minutes. “We didn’t want to get to a point where we were lackadaisical, we didn’t want to pick up any bad habits tonight. And we met those goals.”

After watching the tournament’s first round unfold on television the last two days, the Bruins said they were eager to get to playing. And the Bruins definitely realized that their next foe, big and talented Missouri, will be a far different challenge Sunday.

Earlier Friday, Missouri banged and outhustled the Indiana Hoosiers, 65-60, dismantling hopes for a rematch of the 1992 West Regional final in which Indiana bombed UCLA.

“This kind of gets all the stiffness out of us,” guard Cameron Dollar said. “We’ve been sitting around all week in our hotel rooms sitting and watching everybody else play. Sunday we’ll come out looser and more confident, and we’ll have to.”

Freshman guard Toby Bailey said he felt a little uneasy during the game, with his mind flashing to the run of tournament upsets that seemed to characterize the day.

“That was a hard game to play,” Bailey said. “You just didn’t want to get taken off guard. After seeing all those upsets, you didn’t want that to happen to us.

“I don’t think there was a moment when I didn’t think we had control of the game. (At 9-7,) I just kept hoping it wasn’t going to be a fluke and let them keep staying in the game, and maybe start hitting their shots.”

Freshman J.R. Henderson led UCLA with 16 points. Forward Charles O’Bannon had 14, almost all of them coming when he beat FIU downcourt and had easy layups after receiving the ball from point guard Tyus Edney, who had eight assists in only 15 minutes of action.

“That’s our strength--running,” O’Bannon said. “You might be able to control our running, but you won’t be able to stop it. Early on, Tyus found me.”

UCLA hit a strange 15-minute lull, though, when, for the only prolonged period, it did not lengthen its lead. Of course, that period was halftime.

With Kris Johnson (who had a career-high 10 points and six rebounds), Ike Nwankwo and Bob Myers all receiving lots of minutes in the second half, UCLA still won by 36, the third-largest margin of victory in UCLA tournament history, behind a 49-point defeat of Wyoming in 1967 and a 38-point pounding of Santa Clara in 1969.

“Our goal was to hold them under 40,” Harrick said. “And at halftime, I felt we could’ve done it if I’d have chosen not to play a lot of people.”

Weltlich, who announced his resignation in January, displayed lettering on his shirt that listed his phone number and read: “I need a job. Leave a message.”

Weltlich, though, cracked: “I don’t think that my stock necessarily went up tonight.”