COLLEGE BASKETBALL / NCAA MEN’S FINAL FOUR : Bye-Bye, Big Country : Bruin Centers Have the Scars and a Victory

George Zidek went in first, and he went in without helmet, bayonet or ground support. Just shorts and a tank top and five fouls to give in Saturday’s beach storming of Big Country.

He went in first because there were no volunteers and because no other UCLA Bruin stands 7 feet tall or weighs 250 pounds. If not quite the best or the brightest UCLA had to offer, Zidek was at least the biggest--a human sandbag to be thrown in the path of Oklahoma State’s gargantuan, backboard-crunching monster, Bryant (Big Country) Reeves.

And at that, Zidek was still giving away 42 pounds.

“This is one of the few times,” Zidek said, “where I was the little fella.”

Halftime results:

Big Country--18 points, six rebounds and the city of Seattle under siege.

Zidek the Lion-Hearted--Two points, no rebounds, two fouls, eight minutes played and 12 minutes of sideline treatment for battle fatigue.

J.R. Henderson was summoned next. This was a task suited for Bill Walton, or Lew Alcindor, or maybe both of them at the same time--one for each telephone pole Reeves calls a leg. Instead, it went to an 18-year-old freshman appearing in his 32nd collegiate game, toting a meager 215 pounds of flesh and bone with him.

Or, 77 pounds of flesh and bone less than Big Country.

“He’d give me a little nudge with his butt,” Henderson said, “and I’d go flying two feet back. . . . I had to use every little muscle I had. It’s harder for me than it is for George. George can kind of stand his ground in there. I had to fight and fight.”

For the first 30 minutes of Saturday’s NCAA semifinal, it seemed to be a losing cause. Against Zidek man-to-man or Henderson buttressed in the middle of a 2-3 zone, Reeves was a terror. Every other time down the court, an Oklahoma State player would launch a basketball into Big Country’s air space and watch it disappear inside Reeves’ giant paws. Then, Big Country would bludgeon his way to the basket for a layup. Or take two stomps back and a fire a perfect 14-foot jump shot.

Or, most often, drag Zidek or Henderson with him through the lane, drawing fouls by the handful.

Zidek and Henderson both had four fouls with 7:50 to play. One more and the Bruins were out of reinforcements. Two more and . . . well, Henderson shuddered to even think.

“I don’t think there was a Plan B,” Henderson said, half-grinning and half-grimacing. “If we both fouled out, I don’t know what Coach was thinking.”

Combined, the Zidek-Henderson tag-team finished with eight fouls and eight points. In the battle against Big Country, the Bruins considered it a balanced attack. And, in the end, a winning attack.

Zidek and Henderson survived--and UCLA advanced.

Reeves outscored the Bruin centers, 25-8, and outrebounded them, 9-3. But he scored only seven points in the second half--two in the last nine minutes--and UCLA eventually was able to pull away, 74-61.

In the UCLA locker room afterward, Zidek and Henderson were treated as if they had walked away, unscathed, from a plane crash.

What was it like?

How did it feel?

Zidek looked one questioner up and down and said, “It was like pushing three of you around.”

Henderson said it was like rolling a log uphill, only tougher.

“He’s bigger than a log,” Henderson said. “I don’t know what he is. He’s big, man, he’s big.”

Yet, Reeves could push Zidek and Henderson only so far. In the second half, Big Country hit the wall--and Oklahoma State went splat.

“We were swarming him,” Henderson said. “We wanted him thinking that every time he caught the ball, he was going to be covered front and back.

“I don’t think we wore him down, but I think we frustrated him. And he was gassed a little bit at the end. His shots were coming up short. He wasn’t getting as high off the ground.

“You play 39-plus minutes like he did, you’re bound to get tired. He’s not Superman.”

No, but he might have been Godzilla. And Zidek and Henderson--and a few helping hands--conspired to stop him.

Today, Big Country.

Tomorrow, the world.