They’re Bubbling Over : Dollar’s Dash Gives Bruins Happy Ending

Cameron Dollar grabbed a pass, hit the gas, then didn’t stop racing until the Bruins were home free at last.

How fast?

“I gave it to him,” said Charles O’Bannon, whose shovel to Dollar about 50 feet from the hoop triggered Dollar’s blastoff, “and he was gone.”

How fast? Tyus Edney fast.

“Cameron Edney!” Toby Bailey yelled after Dollar’s flying layup with 0.9 seconds left in the game gave UCLA an 87-86 regular-season finale victory over Washington State before 7,926 at Friel Court on Saturday.

“And I was at the same place too, remember?” Bailey shouted to Kris Johnson, recalling Edney’s court-length dribble-drive in 4.8 seconds to turn a Bruin second-round NCAA tournament loss into a victory over Missouri two years ago. “I was underneath the basket, waiting for a tip-in.”

This play, which began with the Bruins trailing by one and 4.5 seconds left, lifted No. 9 UCLA (21-7, 15-3) to its ninth consecutive victory, and kept alive its hopes of landing a No. 2 seeding in the West Region when the tournament pairings are announced this afternoon.

UCLA started the week No. 12 in the influential RPI ratings, and needs to jump over several teams to earn a No. 2 seeding, but it probably will stay in the West because it is the highest-rated team in the Pacific 10 Conference by any measure.

Last season, although the Bruins won the Pac-10 by three games, Arizona was higher rated in the computer indexes because of its far-stronger nonleague performance and stayed in the West.

“We’re going to get a favorable seed, wherever it is, and that’s what you want,” said Bruin Coach Steve Lavin, who deadpanned that his team could be seeded “anywhere from a No. 5 to a two,” careful to avoid last season’s disappointment when UCLA was shipped off to the Southeast Region as the fourth-seeded team.

“We won’t say if we don’t get in the West it’s a bad seed.”

Said O’Bannon: “Hopefully, we’ll get the two seed in the West--we’d like to stay home. But it’s not that big of a concern to us.”

O’Bannon, who scored 19 points and grabbed a team-high 11 rebounds, expressed zero disappointment in losing to California’s Ed Gray in the voting for conference player of the year--but smiled when Dollar loudly announced that he was sitting next to “No. 13, Charles O’Bannon, the Pac-10 player of the year.”

Washington State’s Isaac Fontaine, playing in his last college game, looked like the player of the game, on his way to setting a school season scoring record--he already had the Cougar career mark. Fontaine, who made 13 of his 23 shots for a season-high 33 points, led Washington State (13-17, 5-13) to a 58-49 lead with 13:08 left in the game.

But UCLA kept feeding it to junior J.R. Henderson, who had his two highest scoring games (29 as a freshman, 28 as a sophomore) in his first two games at Washington State, and Henderson responded with 15 of his team-high 21 points in the period.

“They didn’t really have an answer for him,” Dollar said. “We always say, ‘This is your trip, J.R.’ ”

Henderson had all of his 14 free throws in the second half, making two of four when Carlos Daniel was called for a flagrant foul with 1:54 left and the Cougars ahead by five; and Fontaine fouled him again on the ensuing UCLA possession.

With UCLA ahead by one, 85-84, after Bailey (who had 17 points and seven rebounds) made one of two free throws with 20 seconds left, Henderson was called for a foul on Fontaine, who made both free throws.

Inbounding the ball, Henderson couldn’t find Dollar against the Washington State press, so he tossed it to O’Bannon, who lofted a pass to Dollar near halfcourt.

“I was going to the rack,” Dollar said.

Dollar blasted into the key, maneuvered slightly to his right to avoid Kareem Jackson, who ended up fouling him, and flicked the ball in with his right hand.

After a timeout, Dollar purposely missed the free throw, and the game was over.

It was actually Dollar’s second open-court sprint in the closing moments--his streaking layup after Bailey grabbed a rebound and flipped it to Dollar tied the score, 84-84, with 21 seconds left--and Dollar’s second game-winner against a Washington school in a little over a year--his 45-footer in overtime beat Washington at Pauley last March.

“You have to be a gunslinger on that kind of stuff, you know. You make some, you miss some,” said Dollar, whose 16 points made him one of five Bruins in double figures. “The Louisville game [a three-point loss in January], I missed a layup that could’ve won us that game.

“Today, I was blessed enough to make it. You’ve just got to keep taking cracks at it.”