The Call for Win Goes to Davis

Who’s sorry now?

Baron Davis, exploiting the single coverage after Oregon did not send a second man at him in the backcourt, went from making an apology to the game-winning shot in two days, sinking a 15-foot jumper as the buzzer sounded Thursday night to give UCLA a 79-77 victory before 10,270 at Pauley Pavilion.

Davis, whose layup with 25 seconds left 11 months earlier also beat the Ducks in Westwood, got the ball this time after a Bruin timeout with seven seconds remaining. His moment was set up by successive big defensive plays by UCLA--JaRon Rush intercepting Darius Wright’s bad pass and then Earl Watson preserving the 77-77 tie by taking a charge on Frederick Jones--but Davis immediately captured the spotlight.

Or recaptured it. The focus of attention Tuesday after being reprimanded by the Pacific 10 Conference for negative comments about an official, Davis took a short pass from Rush at the far baseline, charged up court, and found no double team ready to force the ball into someone else’s hands.

Davis appeared to slip as he got to the free-throw line with only a few seconds at his disposal, but he quickly bumped defender Alex Scales to regain his balance. The shot went up with about 1.5 seconds left.

It swished an instant before the buzzer sounded.

“I think the win was big,” Davis said, noting the special significance that comes with a victory in the wake of a difficult few days. “It’s definitely one that I hope gets us over the hump.”

The Bruins did not have a great start, falling behind by 10 points with the game not six minutes old, but a recovery salvaged a good first half and a 35-31 lead at intermission.

It came on a night when encouraging sights were especially welcome, given the events of the Washington trip that had come just before, a span of five days that included a bad showing in victory and a meltdown in defeat.

Not to mention:

* Breaking the so-called Bruin Attitude rule No. 3: “Be on time (No excuses).” This didn’t even make it to the first game--last Wednesday’s Pauley Pavilion practice ran late, so UCLA missed its afternoon flight from Los Angeles to Spokane, Wash. That meant making a new itinerary.

* Breaking No. 3 (cont.): Ray Young was late for the team breakfast Sunday morning in Seattle, was late for the team bus to the University of Washington and cost himself the chance to start. It didn’t come Thursday against Oregon, either--Coach Steve Lavin replaced Matt Barnes at small forward, but went back to Rush.

* Breaking Bruin Attitude rule No. 5: “Play through referee’s calls.” This apparently did not come with the stated exception of “Unless the referee we also spotted on the grassy knoll in 1963 has been out to get us all season.” So Lavin got the first technicals of his playing or coaching career, had to be restrained by coaches and players from getting at Terry Christman, got his wrist slapped by the conference office, and Davis got a technical and a public reprimand that will put his behavior under scrutiny the rest of the season.

* Ryan Bailey being suspended for the Washington game for violating an undisclosed team rule. He returned against Oregon, as expected.

* A general lack of intensity, in practice and games, that earned players several criticisms--public ones--from Lavin.

Or as Lavin later said of seeing the way some so aggressively held him back after being ejected: “I’m going to tell Jerome [Moiso] that if he blocks out as well on the boards as he was doing with me, he’s going to get 21 rebounds a game. We needed him to block out that well on Todd MacCulloch.”

* Lavin having his every sideline move mirrored--and his slick-back hair mocked--by a group of students at the Washington State game, the opener. On a trip like this, that became the light moment.

“The group’s growing, that’s the good news,” he said of the meeting with the 25 or so Cougar fans. “Hopefully next year they’ll fill up an entire section. I’ve got to bring them some T-shirts or something.”

There were hints Thursday night that the momentum might be turning. Not only did the Bruins make up the early 16-6 deficit, but a student, Liron Artzi from Woodland Hills, won books and tuition for a year in a halftime shooting contest.