Bruins Get a Little Joya

Was it a mirage? Like a thirsty man crawling through the desert, UCLA didn’t know quite what to believe.

Had the Bruins really won for the first time in five weeks? Everyone on the bench froze for a moment, looked up, and saw it on the MCI Center scoreboard.

UCLA 71, Georgetown 70.

Guard Ray Young leaped.

Center T.J. Cummings nearly wept.

Even the stern-looking plainclothes police officer safeguarding Coach Steve Lavin cheered.

Cedric Bozeman made two free throws with 4.9 seconds remaining, a desperation shot by Georgetown guard Drew Hall clanged off the front of the rim at the buzzer, and the historic UCLA losing streak ended at nine games Saturday.

“It feels so good to win right now, I can’t explain the feeling,” said freshman center Ryan Hollins, who had 14 points and nine rebounds.

“After so many close losses, we finally did what it takes to win.”

All it took was for the Bruins to travel to the snow-covered nation’s capital, bring along whistle-happy Pacific 10 Conference officials and face a team seemingly more cursed than themselves.

All it took was to attack the basket, get Hoya big man Mike Sweetney in early foul trouble and outscore Georgetown in the paint, 38-20.

All it took was for Bozeman, a career 38.5% foul shooter who was two of six when he stepped to the line with UCLA trailing by one, to coolly make both shots.

“Free throws have been, I wouldn’t say a problem, but they’ve been tough for me,” he said.

Most of his teammates left him alone during a timeout before the free throws.

“We didn’t want to hound him, tell him how to shoot, say ‘Use your legs,’ anything like that,” forward Jason Kapono said. “No bad spirits or bad karma. We just stayed away.”

Only Bozeman’s childhood friend, forward Andre Patterson, said anything to him.

Patterson to Bozeman before the shots: “You’ve got to knock these two down.”

Patterson to Bozeman after the shots: “Thanks.”

Bozeman wasn’t through. He shadowed Hall all the way up the floor on Georgetown’s last possession and got a hand up to disrupt the desperation 25-foot shot.

The nonconference victory doesn’t help UCLA (5-14) get any closer to the Pac-10 tournament, but any win was welcome.

“We’ve been through a long, long season,” Cummings said. “We’ve been busting our butts with a bitter edge. Today we just had to come out aggressive against a physical opponent.”

The Bruins shot 34 free throws -- their second-highest total of the season -- and made 25. Georgetown was 16 of 18 from the line.

The officials were from the Pac-10 as part of the home-and-home arrangement -- Big East officials called UCLA’s 98-91 victory over Georgetown last season at Pauley Pavilion.

And the Pac-10 officials were booed lustily by the 14,227, especially after Sweetney picked up his third foul late in the first half and his fourth two minutes into the second half.

Sweetney, a muscular senior who averages 22.7 points and 10.1 rebounds, had 10 points and nine rebounds in 21 minutes.

“We fronted him and backed him to cut down on his catches,” Lavin said. “When he did catch the ball, we swarmed him. We had a lot of guys play well.”

Patterson had eight points, seven rebounds and three steals, Kapono scored 16 points, Bozeman scored 10, Cummings had seven rebounds and Ryan Walcott had 10 points and five assists.

Georgetown (10-9) shot only 37.1% despite making six field goals in a row during a run that turned a 49-41 deficit into a 61-58 lead with 5:30 to play. UCLA did not make a field goal in the last 3:33 but made seven of 10 free throws during that span.

The hard-luck Hoyas have lost five in a row, including two by one point and two in overtime. They played without center Wesley Wilson, who is on what Coach Craig Esherick termed “a temporary leave of absence.”

As for the Bruins, they proved theirs was not a coast-to-coast curse. In fact, they might have found a good-luck charm in Dwight Ward, the University of California police officer who accompanied the team because Lavin had received threats for two years by a man who lives near Washington.

“[Ward] is going to have to travel with us full-time now,” Kapono said. “Not only to protect and serve, but to bring good luck to the program.”

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Putting It on the Line

Some of Cedric Bozeman’s free-throwing shooting statistics at UCLA:

.286 Bozeman’s free-throw percentage as a freshman last season.

8 Free throws he shot -- of which four were made -- against Georgetown on Saturday.

9 Free throws he attempted in the 11 previous games.

3 Free throws he made in the 11 previous games.

4 Most free throws he attempted in a game in two seasons before Saturday.

6 Free throws Bozeman made all of last season.

4.9 Seconds remaining in the game when he made both of his free throws to give UCLA a 71-70 lead and eventual victory.

.485 His free-throw percentage this season.

.407 His career free-throw percentage.