Lavin Was Not Laughing Until Dollar Bounced Back

In the highly unlikely event Pacific 10 officials have misplaced their sense of humor, a UCLA administrator called the conference’s director of officiating Wednesday to assure him Steve Lavin was kidding at a luncheon the day before when he took a playful swipe at the referees.

But Lavin must have wondered if Booker Turner got the message when Cameron Dollar drew three fouls in the first nine minutes of the game Wednesday night at Pauley Pavilion against USC.

It was no coincidence that Dollar played four minutes in the first half and the Bruins went to the locker room with a mere one-point lead, just as it was no coincidence that he played all but four minutes of the second half and the Bruins won by 22 points, 82-60.

Dollar’s numbers weren’t as impressive as Toby Bailey’s and Charles O’Bannon’s, but the senior point guard was equally important in turning the tempo in UCLA’s favor.

“Cameron Dollar was great the way he passed the ball up the floor in transition,” Lavin said.

With the victory over USC, the Bruins have a 1 1/2-game lead in the conference and appear certain to earn an NCAA tournament berth. On Sunday at Pauley Pavilion, they play a game against Duke that might determine how far they advance into March.

Lavin called it a “fun game” because it doesn’t count in the conference standings. But he knows how significant the game could be in determining UCLA’s seeding by the NCAA selection committee.

With a poor power ranking last season, no doubt influenced by a 19-point loss at Duke, UCLA was seeded fourth in the Southeast Regional, despite winning the Pac-10 by three games, and lost in the first round to Princeton.

The Bruins have done little in nonconference losses against Top 25 teams this season to get the selection committee’s attention. They have one last chance Sunday.

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Watching the UCLA victory at courtside was Super Bowl most valuable player Desmond Howard. . . .

Not only at Pauley Pavilion was the Bruin-Trojan rivalry raging Wednesday night. In men’s volleyball, UCLA won at USC to give Coach Al Scates his 900th victory. . . .

USC meets its foremost intersectional rival, Notre Dame, on the baseball diamond Saturday night. They play at Long Beach’s Blair Field in a three-day, round-robin tournament that also includes Long Beach State and Mississippi. . . .

Oscar De La Hoya’s Boxing Youth Center produced its first national champions last week as 70-pound Rodrigo Mozquera, 85-pound Ramon Cruz, 119-pound Steve Luevano and 125-pound Marshall Martinez, all of East L.A., won Silver Gloves titles in Kansas City. . . .

At least one Ceballos still performs regularly in Inglewood. Panama’s Demetrio Ceballos will fight for the third time in 10 months at the Forum Monday night in a lightweight bout against Stockton’s Isagani Pumar. . . .

Ceballos says he’s never even heard of Lake Havasu, much less gone water skiing there. . . .

Former Forum and Irvine Marriott boxing promoter Don Fraser suggests that James Jen Kin work as the third man in the ring the next time Oliver McCall fights. Referee Kin’s day job is as a psychologist. . . .

McCall could consult Frasier Crane. The actor who plays the radio psychologist on television, Kelsey Grammer, will play Sunday at Riviera in the Nissan L.A. Open Celebrity-Am. Admission is free with a donation of a new or used golf club for the “Clubs for Kids” program. . . .

Billy Casper, a two-time L.A. Open winner who will be honored during next week’s tournament, recalls winning the 1958 Havana Open, less than one year before Fidel Castro overthrew Fulgencio Batista. “I think I’m still the longest defending champion in the history of the game,” Casper says. . . .

Jockey Chris McCarron must choose soon among three possible Kentucky Derby mounts, Mud Route, Hello and Silver Charm. It could be determined by which owner belongs to the most prestigious golf club. In 1994, McCarron chose the eventual champion, Go For Gin, because one of the owners promised McCarron guest privileges at Augusta National. . . .

I doubt New York Jet owner Leon Hess was intimidated in negotiations over Bill Parcells by New England owner Robert Kraft. Hess, who built a $650-million oil empire, once sat down with Col. Moammar Kadafi’s negotiator, who brought a loaded revolver to the table. . . .

The Kraft family built its fortune selling women’s house dresses.

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While wondering if it’s too late to take back my prediction that UCLA would finish sixth in the Pac-10, I was thinking: It’s a good thing his teammates were there to back up J.R. Henderson’s words, Jelani McCoy’s pants are longer than Payne Stewart’s, Dean Smith is back.