Technical Knockout

The tears that rolled out of Baron Davis’ eyes in the aftermath came with the words that flowed without restraint from his mouth, both offering raw emotion and UCLA’s response to the 93-83 loss to Washington on Sunday afternoon.

“I just feel we got cheated,” the Bruin point guard said. “That’s how I feel. We got cheated.”

If Davis was more forthcoming--”I’m tired of holding it in. Somebody’s got to say something about it.”--he wasn’t alone in his sentiments, only more willing than Coach Steve Lavin to invite the possibility of additional discipline from the conference office.

Lavin had already made his bold statement, though.

His, for the convenience of the 7,900 in Hec Edmundson Pavilion and the others watching on the ABC regional telecast, came on the court, when he exploded in anger at referee Terry Christman, charged past midcourt and had to be restrained by several Bruin players and staff members after earning two technical fouls and an ejection.

It came with 4:34 remaining, the result of the same play when Davis fouled out and then got his own technical, the real result of what the Bruins say is a long-standing problem with Christman.

Washington led, 77-70, at the time.

Given the eight free throws--two from the personal against Davis, two from the technical against Davis and four from the technicals against Lavin--Deon Luton made five.

It could have been worse for the Bruins--the Huskies also retained possession, but Luton missed a three-point shot.

As it was, Washington had gone from the seven-point lead to the 82-70 cushion that proved valuable when UCLA closed within five in the final minute.

“We had some momentum going, and that obviously helped it,” Washington Coach Bob Bender said.

Just as notably, it was the Bruins’ lack of discipline, usually a problem during plays instead of during stoppages in play, at its height. Their most prominent player, still a sophomore, slammed his mouthpiece to the court after fouling out and the coach stormed from the bench, earning the first technicals of his 2 1/2-year run, and had to be physically held back from going after Christman some more.

Composed after the game, after Washington center Todd MacCulloch had 26 points and 21 rebounds in the upset of the 11th-ranked Bruins, Lavin explained that the foul call on Davis as Luton drove to the basket was not the cause of his rare display of anger.

It was, he said, merely the last inch of a fuse that had been burning for 3 1/2 weeks, since the Jan. 7 game at Oregon State, a game that Christman also officiated--and a game in which the Beavers had 41 free throws, compared to 22 for the Bruins.

Eight days later, Christman worked the Stanford game at Pauley Pavilion--and the Cardinal had 49 free throws to 15 for UCLA.

Four days after that, Christman was at the Sports Arena--and USC went to the line 41 times, compared to 29 for UCLA.

Then came Sunday: The Huskies had 47 free throws, the Bruins 16.

So aware of the perceived slight, even if he couldn’t specifically note the combined 178-82 disparity, Lavin rattled off the origins of his emotions.

Oregon State.

Stanford.

USC.

Washington.

“Connect the dots,” Lavin said, without mentioning any official by name.

The Bruins did.

“It’s that Christman, and he’s been cheating every time,” said Davis, whose foul problems and composure have been a regular concern for Lavin. “Every time. I don’t know. Maybe he’s got it out for us.

“Had it been a fair game, we would have won. They [the Huskies] played well. But we played well enough to win.

“I’m mad. I’m angry. I’m angry. That’s the only way I can explain it. I’m angry.”

Lavin, meanwhile, gave credit to Washington (12-7, 5-4 in Pacific 10) for outplaying the Bruins (15-5, 6-3) but also referred to the four games as “bordering on Twilight Zone or bizarro levels” and that the problem had been “reoccurring to where something had to be done.”

Which brought him to the 4:34 mark.

Davis got his fifth personal on Luton’s drive, which television replays showed to be a questionable call. Davis, saying he was acting more out of frustration for fouling out than anger toward the officials, took out his mouthpiece and whipped it down.

Lavin sprung from the sideline. No Bruin assistant stopped him, so he continued several feet past midcourt to argue. The first technical came quickly. The second came after Lavin persisted.

Assistant Jim Saia and forward Jerome Moiso corralled Lavin and moved him away. Another referee came over to try to calm him down.

“He was angry, but it was a controlled anger,” Saia said.

Lavin wasn’t about to make a quiet departure. After taking a few steps toward the locker room, he turned back and called the Bruins together in a huddle, which became the spark to UCLA’s playing with much better intensity the final three minutes.

Even when he finally did get close to leaving the court, Lavin wasn’t finished. He gestured several times toward Christman, saying, “He’s awful” and “the worst.”

In the end, the Bruins were left with a plane ride home to contemplate the painful defeat, one that came as Ryan Bailey served a one-game suspension for violating team rules and with Dan Gadzuric back as the starting center and Matt Barnes in place of JaRon Rush at small forward.

The loss also offset a career-high 24 points from Earl Watson, 20 points and five steals by Davis and 20 points from Moiso.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

THE SEQUENCE

Washington led, 77-70, when Deon Luton drove to the basket and was fouled by UCLA’s Baron Davis with 4:34 remaining. In addition to being disqualified with his fifth personal, Davis was called for a technical. Bruin Coach Steve Lavin came on the court and was ejected with a pair of rapid-fire technicals.

THE RESULT

Luton went to the line for all eight attempts--two on the personal foul, two on Davis’s technical and four on Lavin’s technicals:

1. Made free throw, Washington 78-70

2. Missed

3. Made free throw, Washington 79-70

4. Missed

5. Made free throw, Washington 80-70

6. Made free throw, Washington 81-70

7. Missed

8. Made free throw, Washington 82-70

THE REACTION

“That’s more of a culmination of a four-game pattern of some of the most unusual statistics that I’ve seen since the second grade, from high school to playing small-college basketball and then coaching 11 years at the Division I level.”

--STEVE LAVIN