Bruins Take Low Road to Victory

Ben Howland knows games like these. They fairly shout Pittsburgh.

Snowing outside. Frigid shooters in the gym. Fans wondering why they bothered.

The UCLA coach who spent the last four years in the Steel City knows how to win them too.

Thaw your bones with relentless defense, find a modicum of heat from a player or two and ride it out of town while your opponent curses its rotten fate.

The Bruins are learning fast from Howland, and Thursday night they escaped with a 48-45 victory over Washington State at Spokane Arena that won’t make any highlight reels but kept UCLA (7-3, 3-0) tied for first in the Pacific 10 Conference with No. 4 Stanford.

“That was a grind-it-out affair,” Howland said. “We beat a team that is going to win games in the conference.”

Although Washington State (7-6, 1-2) has lost 22 in a row to UCLA, it was a tougher nut to crack with Coach Dick Bennett in his first year after coming out of retirement and his team coming off an upset at California.

Last season at Washington State, Bruin senior Jason Kapono scored 44 points. This victory was just as satisfying, coming as it did in an altogether unusual manner.

“The biggest thing is that we showed a lot of maturity,” senior forward T.J. Cummings said. “We didn’t get flustered.”

Cummings provided flickers of heat throughout, leading UCLA with 12 points and eight rebounds. His best play, though, was a simple pass that led to another pass that led to a basket.

UCLA trailed, 45-44, with 1:10 left when Washington State went to a zone defense for the first time. The Bruins recognized it and used crisp ball movement from Dijon Thompson to Cummings to Ryan Hollins to Cedric Bozeman for a layup and a lead they never relinquished.

The play came moments after Cougar Chris Schlatter gave Washington State a lead with a three-point shot that momentarily worked up the crowd of 2,861 into sounding like all of 3,000.

Cougar senior point guard Marcus Moore tried to take over after Bozeman’s basket but committed an offensive foul with 56.4 seconds left. That mistake was followed by a five-second violation on Bozeman with 29.8 left for dawdling too long near midcourt while trying to whittle down the clock.

Next came the flash of heat Howland sought. Freshman Trevor Ariza stripped the ball from Moore, leading to a foul that sent Janou Rubin to the free-throw line with 18 seconds to play.

Rubin missed, though, Moore rebounded, drove the length of the floor and let fly an off-balance shot from the lane that hit the heel and bounced over the backboard. Thompson was quickly fouled and made two free throws -- ending UCLA’s one-for-seven drought from the line.

Moore attended Redondo Union and Compton Dominguez high schools, and played last summer on a team with Ariza and Bozeman. He took the loss especially hard.

“This is the first time in college I felt like I lost the game for my team,” he said. “I made bad decisions and I didn’t make shots.”

Bennett begged to differ, pointing out Washington State had plenty of opportunities but shot only 37.5%. UCLA outrebounded the Cougars and had 15 second-chance points to the Cougars’ two.

“It’s painful [to lose] because we don’t know when we’ll be this close again,” Bennett said.

Washington State’s tallest starter was 6-foot-7 Shami Gill, yet UCLA could not exploit its height advantage because the Cougars double-teamed 7-foot centers Michael Fey and Hollins.

Neither team could take control in a plodding first half.

Five minutes into the game, the score was 2-2. Eight minutes in, Washington State ended a streak of 12 missed shots when Moore made a layup on an inbounds play.

Ten minutes in, UCLA took its largest lead, 12-4, on Rubin’s three-pointer. Seventeen minutes in, Washington State went on what qualified as a torrid run, scoring five points in 40 seconds to pull within 16-15.

“We adjusted,” Bozeman said. “If somebody plays slowdown basketball, we have to beat them at their own game.”

A game Howland found familiar -- with a familiar result.