Stanford Takes Out the Trash

The disparity in fouls couldn’t hide the truth. Neither could the home fans who trashed the court--a cup that sent liquid splashing, a small, clear object that shattered--with 0.7 remaining and caused referees to halt the game, the first time that has happened in the memory of many longtime UCLA employees.

Stanford beat the Bruins on Saturday night.

No one else.

“They kicked our butts up and down the court,” Earl Watson said after the fourth-ranked Cardinal used a late 10-0 run to claim a 72-59 victory in a Pacific 10 Conference showdown before a raucous and reckless 12,922 at Pauley Pavilion.

“They came out and exposed us tonight. There’s nothing more to say. They killed us. Exposed us. Beat us. Whatever you want to say.”

No. 10 UCLA lost at home for the first time, after nine victories, because of a failure to execute down the stretch, when one-point Stanford lead with 5 1/2 minutes remaining became a 64-53 cushion.

That was part of a stretch when the Bruins went 7:15 without a field goal, only the final problem on a night that was plagued by foul problems from the start.

By the end--when the Cardinal had improved to 15-2 and remained the only unbeaten Pac-10 team at 5-0--Dan Gadzuric, Jerome Moiso, JaRon Rush, Matt Barnes and Baron Davis had fouled out. That left Watson as the only starter not to be disqualified, and he might be facing a much greater stint on the bench.

A deep cut between the middle and ring finger on his right hand was caused when someone scratched the skin with a nail as Watson went up for a layup. It may now cause the starting shooting guard to sit out most of the next four games, all on the road.

“I’m out a week or two for sure,” he said. “Definitely.”

As if the Bruins didn’t have enough to be frustrated about Saturday.

The game they had been looking forward to for weeks, eager to test themselves against a Final Four contender, had ended in a tough loss--and with Stanford getting 49 free throws. UCLA had 15, making only six.

Said Coach Steve Lavin, searching for the words to be diplomatic, or free from conference discipline: “Let’s just say it was one of the most unusual games I’ve seen in my 11 years at the Division I level.”

Among the concerns for UCLA coming in was UCLA.

Davis missed practice the day before because of sore knees, even though the Bruins did little more than shoot free throws, and was also still feeling the effects of flu.

Gadzuric missed because of tendinitis in his knees, an ongoing problem.

Clearly, this was not UCLA’s ideal state heading into a critical conference matchup.

But they were at least used to such hurdles.

Two previous meetings with national powers, Maryland and Kentucky, came before Davis had returned from his knee surgery.

“It’s not a big question around the locker room or a big question for this team,” Watson had said the day before of the health status.

Come tipoff, Davis and Gadzuric were in their usual spots in the opening lineup, as expected, leaving the Bruins to concentrate fully on the more-pressing concern.

Foul trouble.

Moiso got his second personal with the game only 5:03 old, bringing Travis Reed off the bench.

Gadzuric picked up his second with 6:03 gone, sending Barnes in.

So when Reed was called for No. 2 with 9:19 left in the opening half, and Moiso and Gadzuric still grounded, Lavin was forced to stay with Reed.

Until he got his third with 3:55 remaining.

UCLA would reach intermission with a 20-14 rebounding deficit.

But the Bruins also trailed only 33-27 at that stage.

Lavin tried to bring both starting big men back for the second half, but Moiso lasted only 12 seconds before getting his third foul.

Gadzuric, though, played on, and played well, winding up as UCLA’s leading scorer with 15 points.

* ROBYN NORWOOD: Bruins’ big men finally make it a fair fight against towering Stanford front line. Page 7