Head Start Isn’t Quite Enough to Beat Bruins

UCLA spotted Cal State Fullerton two starters and another top player for a little while Saturday night, but it wasn’t nearly long enough for the Titans.

Fullerton briefly led, 10-7, when Chris Dade and Chris St. Clair each hit three-point shots.

That was by far the best of it for the Titans on their night in front of 9,724 in Pauley Pavilion and a regional television audience .

UCLA’s top scorer J.R. Henderson, held out of the starting lineup because he was late for a practice Wednesday, made two free throws to put the Bruins ahead to stay, 11-10.

Bruin Coach Steve Lavin waited a little longer to add regular freshman point guard Baron Davis and senior Kris Johnson to the lineup in the first half. They also were being disciplined for being late for practices this week.

But by the time Johnson made his appearance, the 12th-ranked Bruins already were out in front by 11 points and their 120-91 victory was all but in the bag.

“It was a picture of complete dominance,” Titan Coach Bob Hawking said.

It was the most points ever given up by the Titans. The previous high was 117 in a loss to Cal State Northridge in the 1963-64 season. It also was the most points scored by UCLA since the 1994-95 season.

“UCLA could do no wrong,” Hawking said. “Their quickness made it very difficult for us. When they start that small lineup, it’s tough. You think you can match up with them because we have some quickness too, but they were much quicker.”

Hawking thought that was the difference between UCLA and Utah, which defeated the Titans by 28 points in Fullerton’s season opener. “Utah is more physical, but UCLA has more quickness,” Hawking said.

Hawking said UCLA was dominant in every aspect, particularly on offense. The Bruins shot 63.8% from the floor to 43.1% for Fullerton. But the Bruins also forced 24 turnovers, including 16 in the first half.

“It makes it difficult when they shoot like that,” Hawking said. “But we were careless with the ball. We were doing things we weren’t doing before. We lost our poise. A lot of those turnovers in the first half were in-bounding the ball. We hadn’t seen anyone come at us with that much havoc against our pressure offense.”

Hawking had trouble singling out any particular UCLA players for praise. “They all impressed me,” Hawking said. “But J.R. Henderson had a tremendous game, and everyone else played well.”

Fullerton’s top scorer and defender, senior guard Dade, also was impressed with Henderson, who scored 23 points.

“J.R. is a tremendous player,” Dade said. “He’s really patient. He lets the game come to him. And as soon as we started laying off him a little, he really got going.”

But Dade also was impressed with UCLA’s depth. “They kept bring in fresh players, and they were all good,” said Dade, who finished with 26 points. “I wondered for a while if they were coming out of the stands to play.”