UCLA Victory Insured by Loyd’s of Westwood

And into the void . . . Brandon Loyd?

At yet another moment of Bruin crisis, in the performance of his career, Loyd found his rhythm, around the bottom of the net and found a way to hold UCLA together on its way to a 74-68 victory over Oregon State here Saturday afternoon.

Four three-point baskets in five tries. Twelve points. Two rebounds. Two steals. Nineteen minutes.

All career highs, all when the Bruins were struggling to score, and all from a sophomore guard who didn’t play a second against Louisville or Arizona, and whose usual contribution had been a quick shot and a quick yank after a quick miss.

“I’m in the game to shoot it,” said Loyd, the eighth man in interim Coach Steve Lavin’s usual seven-man rotation. “If I’m not shooting it well, there’s really not a lot of need for me to play a lot of minutes.”

The victory--hammered out with several key plays in the late going by Jelani McCoy and Toby Bailey--kept the Bruins on top of the Pacific 10 Conference standings (Arizona will be tied if it wins today at Washington), and got UCLA back on track after its draining overtime loss at Oregon on Thursday.

Loyd entered the game midway through the first half, stayed in when Toby Bailey drew two quick fouls, then earned his minutes, swishing his first two three-point shots, missing one and making another. He added his last in a nine-minute stretch during the second half.

“That’s what he does in practice all day,” said Bailey, whose 30-minute outing Saturday ended an amazing six-game string in which he averaged slightly more than 40 minutes. “I told him on the bus that he was due to hit a couple.”

UCLA raised its record to 12-6, and 7-2 in conference, and is currently the only conference team to have a winning record (3-2) on the road. Last-place Oregon State fell to 5-13 and 1-8.

“We know that we’ve always been in the driver’s seat, that this is our championship to lose,” said Charles O’Bannon, who led UCLA with 19 points.

The Bruins also got a clutch stretch run by McCoy, who had four rebounds and two power slams in the deciding final minutes after he got over a moment of near-disaster.

With 3:43 left, and the Bruins holding a tenuous 68-62 lead and the Beavers poised for a final rush before 8,307 at Gill Coliseum, McCoy yelled at official Terry Christman after a foul call, and Christman heeled around to face McCoy. But Christman was cut off by Cameron Dollar, who urged Christman not to call a technical. He didn’t.

Then, it was up to Lavin.

“Instead of taking him out, during the timeout I pulled off my Pac-10 championship ring,” Lavin said. “I showed it to them, and I told them to maintain their poise and I reminded them what this is about: winning the conference title.”

McCoy, who was needed in the lineup because J.R. Henderson sat out the last 5:22 because of a banged-up leg, calmed down, apologized to Christman after the timeout, and finished with 11 points, eight rebounds and three blocked shots.

“He dominated the game at both ends of the floor,” Lavin said.

In addition to his referee-liaison duties, Dollar had five steals and five rebounds, and generally returned to the frenzied style of play that he says was missing recently.

After his father told him Friday night he wasn’t being as aggressive as he used to, Dollar said he was determined to attack the game.

“I just wanted to be more aggressive out there,” Dollar said. “I felt like during the Oregon game I was kind of floating out there. And if you’ve seen me play, you know the worst thing I can do is be stagnant.”

Bailey, meanwhile, got his first real rest in seven games and still tied a career-high with 10 assists, including the passes that led to UCLA’s final three baskets.

“You got 10 assists?” Kris Johnson yelled to Bailey in the locker room. “You? That’s unheard of!”

Meanwhile, O’Bannon used a bit of veteran wile to get Oregon State freshman Corey Benjamin, who scored a spectacular 14 first-half points, out of the game.

After bumping each other all game, O’Bannon and Benjamin tangled up midway through the second, drawing a double-foul and giving Benjamin his fourth personal.

Eleven seconds later, with Benjamin still steaming about the call, he was whistled for his fifth after another wrestling match with O’Bannon on the post, and suddenly Benjamin was unavailable to Oregon State for the final 11:23.

“I was trying to get into his head a little bit,” O’Bannon said. “I’ve been around a lot longer than he has. I guess you could say it worked, we got him out of the game.”

* USC TOPS OREGON

Ayuso scores 21 as USC stays in the thick of the Pacific 10 race with road sweep. C8

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Pacific 10 Race

Conf.

*--*

Team W L UCLA 7 2 Arizona 6 2 Stanford 6 3 California 6 3 USC 6 3 Washington 4 4 Oregon 3 6 Washington State 3 6 Arizona State 2 7 Oregon State 1 8

*--*

Overall

*--*

Team W L UCLA 12 6 Arizona 13 4 Stanford 13 4 California 15 5 USC 11 7 Washington 11 5 Oregon 12 6 Washington State 11 9 Arizona State 10 11 Oregon State 5 13

*--*

TODAY’S GAME

Arizona at Washington 12:30 p.m.

WEDNESDAY’S GAME

Arizona St. at Arizona 7:30 p.m.

THURSDAY’S GAMES

Stanford at USC 7 p.m.

California at UCLA 7:30 p.m.

Wash. St. at Oregon St. 7 p.m.

Washington at Oregon 7:30 p.m.

SATURDAY’S GAMES

California at USC Noon

Stanford at UCLA 2 p.m.

Wash. St. at Oregon 7 p.m.

Washington at Oregon St. 7 p.m.