For Pete’s Sake

Everything went wrong, and every Bruin went haywire.

Every step of the UCLA Bruins’ strange and perilous season seemed to take them here, to the last three minutes, to the wall against a classic Princeton team, to another test of their heart and talent, to the tightrope walk between failure and triumph, to the edge one last time.

Every step took them here, and here the defending national champions toppled. Hard.

Thursday night, before an RCA Dome crowd of 31,569 that screamed for the upset, Toby Bailey’s last shot went awry, and Princeton out-thought and outplayed and outfought the Bruins, squeezing out a momentous 43-41 victory in the first round of the Southeast Regional of the NCAA tournament.

“You could say our luck ran out,” said Bruin junior forward Charles O’Bannon, one of a handful of Bruin players who did not refuse comment after the game.

“What I dread most is dealing with people, all those who were jealous and upset and didn’t get excited about us last year. Now they’re going to be able to throw it back in our face. But I have a championship, which a lot of players never get in their college careers. And I still have one more year to go.”

UCLA has all of its top six players returning for next season, but will have to go a long way to forget this defeat.

The victory gave retiring Princeton Coach Pete Carril at least one more game--and a much-craved glamorous first-round victory, after going winless in his previous four tries. Princeton’s last tournament victory came in 1984.

Despite playing its usual erratic, error-prone game--and appearing especially baffled by Princeton’s matchup zone--UCLA had a seven-point lead with 6:13 to play--but did not score again, and looked increasingly tight and testy as Princeton moved closer to victory.

UCLA was without forward J.R. Henderson for most of the second half, when UCLA Coach Jim Harrick decided that Henderson was showing effects of having just gotten over strep throat. Henderson declined comment after the game.

“He had no zip,” Harrick said of Henderson, who played 21 minutes, scored two points and was quite vocal on the sideline--appearing to be asking to be put back in--during UCLA’s last, frustrating moments.

O’Bannon missed two layups during that span, and got beaten on the back-door play by Gabe Lewullis with four seconds left that gave Princeton its winning margin.

Also, point guard Cameron Dollar--who did not score a point in the game--missed two free throws with 1:02 left after he was intentionally fouled by Sydney Johnson with the score tied, 41-41.

“We had the game won,” Harrick said. “You knew it was going to be a close game, and you knew you have to execute the plays in those games if you’re going to win.”

The Bruins, who dropped to 23-8, became the first defending national champions to lose in the first round since Indiana lost to Richmond in 1988.

It was the third first-round departure in Harrick’s eight-year tenure, and the second in two outings as a No. 4-seeded team. The other two first-round exits came in 1994, to Tulsa, when UCLA was a No. 5, and in 1991, to Penn State, when the Bruins were a No. 4.

“For myself, this is over with, and I’m looking forward to next year when we have everyone but one [senior Kevin Dempsey] returning,” O’Bannon said. “It’s going to be a long summer, and we’ve got a lot of work ahead of us.

“I just missed the lob, I had the fastbreak--Toby set me up perfectly both times. I missed four three-pointers, my man beat me back-door. I’m pointing out my own, but we all made mistakes. It’s unfortunate.”

On UCLA’s last play--which started with 2.2 seconds left after the officials reviewed the tape and added .9 seconds--Dollar inbounded to Bailey, who pump-faked his man on the left sideline and missed a 15-footer long.

“Toby’s been one who’s made shots like that in the past,” Dollar said. “And you have to go out swinging.”

Bailey had made consecutive three-point baskets to help get UCLA that seven-point lead, after struggling all night. He led UCLA with 13 points--but also had four turnovers.

UCLA had 16 turnovers on the night--a killer statistic against a Princeton team whose methodical play cuts the number of possessions way down. The 41-point output is the Bruins’ lowest since 1966-67, when UCLA lost to Oregon, 34-25.

UCLA didn’t seem impatient against Princeton’s surprise zone defense. The Bruins, who had looked so strong against zones late this season, just seemed baffled and alarmed--and unable to find any holes.

“It wasn’t really a zone, it was a matchup zone,” Dollar said. “We’d be running guys right to where they were. It was hard to get the play going when there’s guys right where we should be.”

After taking a 7-0 lead on three consecutive successful possessions to start the game, UCLA scored only 12 points in the final 17:55 of the half--and committed 11 turnovers.

Princeton was not exactly on fire itself offensively, but scored its first 12 points on four three-point shots, then tied it up with 4:52 left, at 16-16. The Tigers had four chances to go ahead--UCLA turned the ball over four consecutive times at one point late in the half--but couldn’t convert any of them.

The Bruins got a three-point play by O’Bannon with 2:45 left, to take a 19-16 lead, and Princeton’s first back-door layup of the night closed the half at 19-18, UCLA’s lowest-scoring first half of the year. The previous low was when the Bruins scored 26 at Washington State in the Pacific 10 opener.

About the only productive Bruins were little-used freshman Brandon Loyd, who came into the game in the second half and made two three-point shots to get UCLA breathing again; and Bailey, who got the Bruins the late lead, keying a 12-3 run.

But as the Tigers made their comeback, and the crowd rose to urge them on, the Princeton players said they sensed UCLA sagging.

“I think [the crowd] hurt UCLA more than it helped us,” Princeton’s Johnson said. “I looked in their faces, and they have a lot of skills, but I could see it in their eyes. They got away from the things that got them here.”

Princeton (22-6) got 11 points from Johnson, who made three of his seven three-point attempts, including two during the Tigers’ final push.

Then, eight consecutive wasted UCLA possessions, Princeton had the ball, with 21 seconds left, and the game was tied.

Princeton hadn’t had much success with its famous back-door offense, but worked the weave up top and center Steve Goodrich found Lewullis slicing to the basket with O’Bannon behind him.

“O’Bannon had played it well when I tried it the first time, so I went out to the three-point line, hoping he’d follow me,” Lewullis said. “And he did, and I cut back down and Steve gave me a great pass.”