Bruins Narrowly Save Oregon Trip

Gaining redemption for past events, some more recent than others, UCLA overcame the Oregon Ducks and the Oregon fans to post a 65-63 victory Saturday night before 9,087 at rowdy McArthur Court.

What would have been a significant victory under any circumstances, coming against a good team and in a tough road setting, was all the more important because it came two days after a bad performance.

It came in an arena where the Bruins had lost in four of their previous five visits, usually while getting harassed by fans.

But the outcome this time was equally satisfying because of what happened not only the years before, but two days before, when the Bruins lost to Oregon State with a miserable performance.

“It was huge,” JaRon Rush said after being put back in the starting lineup for the first time since Dec. 23, just before he went AWOL. “It boosted our confidence. We were asking ourselves, ‘How could we lose to Oregon State, maybe the worst team in the conference?’ We didn’t see how we could beat Arizona and then lose like that.”

Youth, for one thing.

Or maybe taking Oregon State lightly while looking ahead to the second game of the trip, a notion Rush didn’t dispute.

Saturday, hoping to avoid a sweep at the Oregons for the first time since 1989-90, UCLA (11-3, 3-1 Pac-10) started poorly again.

The Bruins fell behind by 10 points after a little more than seven minutes and by 12 points with 7:44 left in the first half.

After shooting 28.4% on Thursday in Corvallis, the Bruins began in Eugene by missing 12 of their first 16 attempts.

But a 14-0 run later in the half got them a 35-31 advantage, which became 37-33 at intermission, and set the stage for the tense finish.

Oregon, itself in need of recovery after losing to USC on a last-second half-court shot, erased a seven-point deficit with 10 minutes remaining on the strength of a stretch in which it made three consecutive three-point shots and four in five possessions.

After falling behind soon after that, the Ducks rallied again, this time going from five down to a 63-63 tie with three minutes left.

Both teams struggled for offense from there.

The Bruins had a 35-second violation on the ensuing trip downcourt, but Oregon was unable to capitalize.

When UCLA got the ball back, Jerome Moiso missed a straight-away jumper, with no Bruin seemingly in position for the offensive rebound.

But Dan Gadzuric, being boxed out of position to the point that he was being ridden out of bounds on the baseline, reached up.

“I was working hard,” he said. “As soon as I saw the ball go up, I worked harder.”

So hard that he reached behind himself to swat the ball back toward the rim, barely a controlled tip.

“There was a lot of luck,” Gadzuric admitted.

There was even more success.

The ball went in, providing the 65-63 margin with 1:30 remaining.

It would turn out to be the Bruins’ only basket of the final 4 1/2 minutes--and to be enough.

Oregon got off only one more shot those final 90 seconds.

The Ducks (9-4, 1-3) had a 35-second violation when freshman Frederick Jones didn’t hear teammates urging him to shoot because of the crowd.

After Rush was called for traveling, Alex Scales got off a three-point shot with about 10 seconds left, but it bounced off the rim.

Rush got the defensive rebound, one of his game-high 12 boards, and was immediately fouled.

He missed the front end of the one and one with 7.5 showing, but Gadzuric’s reach saved the Bruins again.

He tipped the ball out to Baron Davis. Davis, on a night when he would tie his career high with 22 points, tried to burn the final five seconds with a heave into a pack near the basket.

But all he did was throw the possession away and give Oregon a last chance.

That ended when UCLA’s Earl Watson knocked the ball away from Scales with about two seconds remaining as the Duck was about 35 feet from the basket. Victory--and redemption--had been secured.