Bruins Bend, Don’t Break

T.J. Cummings was bent out of shape, upset at a hard foul by Washington’s Grant Leep with 42.3 seconds to play.

Time out was called and Cummings cooled enough to smile to himself at the irony.

During pregame warmups he’d bent the rim on a dunk, causing a 15-minute delay as Pauley Pavilion workers lowered the standard that holds up the basket, broke out a wrench and replaced the iron.

Now all Cummings had to do was make two free throws to complete a dismantling of the Huskies and extend UCLA’s winning streak to eight. The shots went in, the Bruins prevailed, 74-62, and 7,567 had watched the reserve sophomore center take his game to a whole new standard.

Cummings scored 22 points and took a career-high 11 rebounds. He had 11 points in each half and made two shots down the stretch when UCLA (10-2, 3-0 in Pacific 10 Conference play) extended a two-point lead to six with 4:34 to play with consecutive baskets.

“My teammates were messing with me in the locker room during the delay,” he said. “I was working on my post moves and the whole thing just snapped. I just hoped I would have a chance to make amends.”

The opportunity came early. Starting center Dan Gadzuric, who had 23 points and 13 rebounds when UCLA won at Washington (6-7, 0-3) Dec. 20, picked up two fouls in the first 90 seconds, sat out the rest of the first half and played six minutes overall, contributing only two points and one rebound.

“Obviously, I knew I had to step up,” Cummings said.

He wasn’t alone. Forward Matt Barnes continued his recent stretch of sound all-around play, scoring 12 points and racking up a career-high eight assists. He also had six of the Bruins’ 46 rebounds, 18 of which came on the offensive end.

Freshmen Cedric Bozeman, Andre Patterson and Dijon Thompson all made strong contributions off the bench, combining for 16 points and eight rebounds.

Bozeman, playing for the first time since having knee surgery Dec. 3, entered the game to cheers at the 11:51 mark of the first half with UCLA trailing, 13-12.

Thompson and Patterson joined him a minute or so later and keyed a six-point Bruin run that cooled when Washington called a time out.

“I was so glad to get out there,” Bozeman said. “It’s been hard sitting there on the bench.”

From the moment he stepped on the floor, the 6-foot-6 guard exhibited more intensity than he did during UCLA’s 2-2 start, helping force a shot clock violation with strong defense, then scoring on a spin move in the lane off an inbounds pass.

Seconds later, Thompson made a steal in the backcourt and dunked, and scored again off Patterson’s assist. Washington’s C.J. Massingale made a three-point play, but Patterson responded with a short hook shot.

Patterson, who played 11 minutes, made all three of his shots and grabbed four rebounds, three on the offensive end. Bozeman made three of five shots, had two rebounds, an assist and only one turnover in seven minutes. Thompson had four points, two rebounds and two steals in 15 minutes.

“Watching those three freshmen is like looking into a crystal ball and seeing the future of this program,” Coach Steve Lavin said.

The present is appealing too. Jason Kapono and Billy Knight, the team’s leading scorers, had off games, yet both made clutch shots down the stretch.

Kapono was only four for 12 and missed seven of eight three-point shots, but his short bank shot with 1:52 to play extended the lead to 67-59.

Knight, who scored only seven points on three-of-10 shooting, made a three-pointer from the corner with under a minute left and UCLA led by 11.

Josh Barnard, Washington’s leading scorer with 22, made the Huskies’ 10th three-pointer 12 seconds later, conjuring images of Georgetown’s flurry of long shots in the waning moments of UCLA’s victory last Saturday.

But Cummings was fouled hard by Leep, voiced displeasure, regained his poise and hit the clinching free throws.

“It was a football-style cheap shot, and the heat of the moment got to me,” he said. “Then I thought about it and figured I’d just make the shots.”

The free throws--unlike the pregame dunk--didn’t touch the rim. The new basket had survived the game, the Bruins had withstood Washington. And Cummings had done his part to keep the winning streak from toppling.