UCLA’s Barnes Picks Up the Pace

To this point in UCLA’s basketball season, Matt Barnes had been perfectly happy with garbage points--putbacks, tip-ins, hustle plays.

He showed Saturday that there’s more to his repertoire.

“I was just feeling it tonight,” said Barnes, the offensive centerpiece in a 98-88 victory over Oregon at Pauley Pavilion. “My teammates were really looking for me, and I just put myself in a good position to score.”

In the process, he not only rang up a career-high 26 points, but he paved the way for UCLA’s eighth victory in nine games. It was one the Bruins had to have heading into a four-game road stretch against California, Stanford, USC and DePaul.

“We’re keeping pace with Arizona and Stanford, and that’s where we need to be,” said Barnes, whose team improved to 12-5 overall, 6-1 in Pacific 10 Conference play. “Everyone counted us out this year, and we’re right up there. If we want to keep pace with the big dogs, every game is a must-win.”

They might have played like big dogs in the second half, but in the first, the Bruins were just plain dogs. Oregon (11-6, 2-5) went on a 10-0 run late in the first half and completely took the crowd of 6,957 out of the game. The Bruins were down by 12 in the final minute before getting a huge lift from point guard Earl Watson, who buried two three-pointers in the final 31 seconds of the half.

That gave the Bruins some momentum, but it didn’t spare them the wrath of Coach Steve Lavin, who tore into them in the locker room at halftime.

“He said we were softies out there and weren’t playing hard,” forward Jason Kapono said. “People say that anyone who plays on the West Coast is soft. You know, beach boys, California, laid back, whatever. But that’s totally not true.”

Kapono, who happens to sound like a surfer straight out of Central Casting, showed in the second half why he’s all about basketball. He scored 16 of his 18 points in the final 20 minutes, helping the Bruins outscore the visitors by 16 in the second half.

It’s no mystery why Kapono suddenly found his touch. He was wearing a wrap in the first half to protect his injured right wrist, which was tender and swollen as a result of a hard spill under the basket Thursday. At halftime, he decided to shed the bandage and take his chances.

“It just bothered me so bad, I couldn’t really even grab the ball or shoot or do anything,” he said. “So I came in here and took it off. There was pain, but you can’t cry about it. When you’re down six at halftime, you’ve just got to suck it up.”

The Ducks scored the first four points of the second half, pushing their advantage to 10 points, but UCLA chipped away at that edge and finally took a 58-57 lead when Barnes made a steal at midcourt and ignited the crowd with a windmill dunk with 14:49 to play.

The teams traded baskets for the next three minutes, before UCLA went on a 13-0 spree that helped put the game out of reach.

Watson, who played without his back brace and looked far more fluid than he did Thursday, contributed 20 points and seven assists. Center Dan Gadzuric, who fouled out in 20 minutes of play, had 15 points and six rebounds.

It didn’t help Oregon’s cause that there were so many key players on the bench. Centers Flo Hartenstein and Chris Christofferson fouled out, as did forward Luke Jackson.

But the most prominent sitting Duck was Bryan Bracey, the Pac-10’s leading scorer, who suffered a calf injury late in the first half and sat out 13 minutes of the second half. He still finished with 20 points in 24 minutes.

The game, which lasted 2 1/2 hours, devolved into a foul-fest. The Bruins were fouled 32 times and committed 26 of their own--both season highs. Oregon took full advantage of that, making 29 of 35 free throws (82.9%). UCLA made 25 of 38 (65.8%).

Lavin said he was particularly pleased the Bruins had only 10 turnovers, especially considering the up-tempo nature of the game.

“Aside from getting a sweep of the Oregon schools,” he said, “the best part of the weekend was the way we protected the basketball.”

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SOUTHLAND, D9

WOMEN, D9

SPOTLIGHT, D10

TOP 25, D10

PACIFIC 10, D11