UCLA Victory Is Good Part of Its Big News

Look who’s back. Jerome Moiso, just in time.

Look who’s hurting. Dan Gadzuric, at the worst time.

UCLA is either peaking at the right time or peeking through its fingers at the sight of an injury that looms large, losing Gadzuric for the entire second half Saturday afternoon but also gaining its first conference sweep in a year with a 69-59 victory over Oregon State before 9,759 at Pauley Pavilion.

The Bruins (15-11, 6-8) have a two-game winning streak for the first time in a month, since beating Arizona State and the same Beavers in late January, just before the slide of six losses in seven games that ended this week. They also swept a week against Pacific 10 partners--California and Stanford, Washington State and Washington, etc.--for the first time since Feb. 25-27, 1999.

Of course, they also played the final 23:54 without Gadzuric, so it wasn’t one big celebration. His most significant problem of the season with tendinitis in his knees--the right one, in this case--comes with the drive for an NCAA tournament bid in full force and with No. 1 Stanford and its big front line only a week away.

Coach Steve Lavin said Gadzuric could have played in the second half if needed, but that there was no reason to push it because the lineup combinations were working well. Proof was the 15-0 charge that turned a 39-39 tie into an insurmountable 54-39 cushion, a span of 5:03 that provided victory and strong memories of when UCLA dominated the second half to win Jan. 27 at Oregon State.

Greater proof, or at least reason for feeling safe inside, was the reappearance of Moiso, the enigmatic power forward who had a reserve role for the second game in a row behind Sean Farnham but also had a prominent role for the first game in weeks.

There was some sign of life Thursday night against Oregon, when Moiso had nine points and nine rebounds. But Saturday against Oregon State (12-14, 4-11), he entered with the game 5:35 old, played the rest of the half, then the entire second half, going 34 minutes in his longest appearance since Feb. 9 against USC. That was the last game before his tailspin began.

He finished with 16 points, his most since Feb. 5 against California, eight rebounds, and new life. It came just when the Bruins needed it most, their starting center on the bench, their postseason fast approaching.

“I was kind of in a slump last week at Arizona,” Moiso said, slump actually being a liberal description for a combined 11 points and five rebounds in 47 minutes of two embarrassing defeats. “Frustration got in the way again. I was bottomed out again.”

Except it wasn’t only the Arizona trip.

“The last three weeks, definitely,” he said.

The recovery came along with the 17 minutes of signature dirty work from Farnham--two points, two offensive rebounds, post defense that earned Lavin’s praise--and 19 minutes from the other frontcourt reserve, Matt Barnes. It wasn’t as if the Bruins didn’t miss Gadzuric--who waved off questions afterward in the locker room--but it turned out they didn’t really need him.

“Dan’s knee was bothering him,” Lavin said. “But more than that, it was our combination of players.”

Added guard Ryan Bailey: “I’m just glad we could play well without him, because that gives him a chance to rest while we’re winning.”

Bailey was one of the reasons for such a luxury. He had seven of the points in the 15-0 run, including a pair of three-pointers, and scored nine of his 11 points in the second half. That’s also when Moiso got 10 of his 16 and Ray Young accounted for all nine of his points and helped limit Oregon State’s Josh Steinthal to one-of-five shooting, after Steinthal had 10 points and three three-pointers the first half.

In all, the Bruins, after trailing by a point at the break, outscored the Beavers, 37-26, the final 20 minutes and outshot them, 57.1%-34.8%. UCLA finished at 53.2%, offsetting its 18-7 deficit on the offensive boards against an opponent with inferior rebounding statistics.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Pac 10

Team W-L

Stanford 13-1

Arizona 13-1

Oregon 10-5

Arizona St. 8-6

USC 7-7

UCLA 6-8

California 6-8

Oregon St. 4-11

Washington 4-11

Washington St. 1-14

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GOOD AND BAD

Arizona wins but won’t have Woods for the rest of regular season. Page 7

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STILL FALLING

UCLA women blown out for the second straight game. Page 6