Bruins Get Two for Road

The warm gust from Friel Court was nearly enough to melt snow on the rolling wheat fields that surround Washington State.

UCLA held air in its lungs for 40 hours and 40 minutes, forbidden to exhale by a cadre of veteran players who know the dangers of breathing easy too soon.

So when Jason Kapono made two close-range baskets and a free throw in the last 1:13 to secure a come-from-behind 79-74 victory Saturday, the Bruins released the oxygen and congratulated themselves for not letting their minds drift home for the holidays ahead of their bodies.

UCLA’s first sweep of the two-game Pacific 10 Conference swing through this state in five years was accomplished because warning signs were heeded.

“In previous years we might have lost after winning at Washington on a Thursday night and turning around and playing at noon on Saturday,” said forward Matt Barnes, one of four senior starters.

“That wasn’t going to happen. The older guys told the younger guys and nobody let up until we won.”

The two games were strangely similar. Against Washington, UCLA (7-2, 2-0 in Pac-10) overcame a seven-point deficit by shooting 58% in the second half.

Against Washington State, the Bruins shot 68% in the second half and clawed back after being down nine with 11:35 to play.

And center Dan Gadzuric again was a dominant force. On the heels of his career-high 23-point performance against Washington, the 6-foot-11 senior scored 20, making seven of eight shots, including all six in the second half when he had 17 points.

“Dan was a monster inside, crashing dunks on everybody,” Kapono said.

Gadzuric scored the first five points of the half, added two baskets with about five minutes to play to even the score and gave the Bruins their first lead in 34 minutes by making two free throws with 2:40 left.

“In the past, if Dan struggled early, it tended to carry over for the entire game,” Coach Steve Lavin said. “This time we made a concentrated effort to get him involved in the second half.”

In addition to creating opportunities for Gadzuric and Barnes, who had 15 points, working the ball inside resulted in a rash of fouls.

Three Washington State starters fouled out in the last two minutes.

The Cougars had 25 fouls to UCLA’s 13, and the sparse crowd of 2,410 directed what little noise it could muster at the officials.

But despite the tease of an eight-point first-half lead, few expected the home team to win.

The loss was Washington State’s 27th in a row to a ranked opponent and 18th in a row to UCLA, which shuddered at the thought of joining lightly regarded Prairie View A&M;, Arkansas Pine Bluff, Idaho and Texas Pan-American as a team defeated by the Cougars (4-5, 0-1) this season.

“I’m glad we caught them early, because before the season is over they will beat somebody in the conference up here,” Barnes said.

Cougar guards Marcus Moore, Jerry McNair and Mike Bush combined for 47 points but made only four of 19 three-point shots.

Two three-pointers by reserve Justin Lyman pushed the lead to 55-46, but UCLA scored 13 of the next 17 to pull even with 6:50 left.

“The rah-rah was there, but we didn’t make plays when we needed to and they couldn’t miss a shot,” Bush said.

Especially in the last 73 seconds. Kapono made a low-post move that caused Bush to fall backward, and scored for a 73-71 lead. Then he converted a three-point play for a five-point edge with 26.4 to play.

McNair sank a three-pointer--only Washington State’s seventh in 28 tries--but Billy Knight, another Bruin senior, made three free throws in the last 19 seconds.

So despite anxious moments, veteran leadership enabled UCLA to avert a disastrous letdown.

“I can warn younger guys about the tendency to play poorly in the second game of a conference trip, but it’s just coach-speak,” Lavin said. “When the seniors say it, it registers. And today they backed it up by going out and playing well.”

Lavin calls Gadzuric “the X factor” because the Bruins are so much more imposing when he plays well, and the coach had a similar term for the tendency to relax after winning the first of two consecutive games on the road.

“It’s the exhale factor,” he said. “You can’t breathe until the trip is over.”

Or at least not until the final buzzer of the second game, then use the draft to help you home.