Wagner Almost Makes It Upsetting Night for UCLA

Ho-hum. Just another warmup game for the UCLA Bruins as they await the start of conference play.

Uh, not exactly.

Wagner College of Staten Island, N.Y., small in national stature, came up big Wednesday night at Pauley Pavilion, pushing the Bruins to the closing seconds before losing, 74-72.

“People have been patting us on the back and telling us how good we are,” UCLA Coach Ben Howland said, “but we still have work to do to get better. This was a tough, hard-nosed team and they came in determined to beat us.”

Using their speed, quickness and shooting, the Seahawks were ahead by eight midway through the second half and were tied when Jordan Farmar whipped a pass to Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, who converted for the winning points with 14.6 seconds remaining, improving the 12th-ranked Bruins to 9-1.

“We were equal with UCLA tonight,” Wagner Coach Mike Deane said. “For us as a program to compete at UCLA is a testament to how far our team has come.”

The Seahawks shot 53.8% and made 10 of 16 three-pointers. The Bruins struggled from the three-point arc (one for 13) and the free-throw line (nine for 18).

The Bruins appeared less than passionate about facing Wagner at the start of the game. Farmar classified it as “sluggish.”

It’s easy to take a school lightly when it isn’t even as well known nationally as one of its former coaches (P.J. Carlesimo) who hasn’t been there in more than two decades.

Howland had tried to pump up his Bruins all week, knowing a potential emotional valley when he sees one. His team was coming off victories over Nevada in the Wooden Classic and Michigan at Ann Arbor, with Pacific 10 Conference play a week away.

So why worry about a Wagner, whose biggest starter was 6-foot-7 Durell Vinson?

Howland had ammunition to make his case that this was an opponent to be taken seriously.

Wagner came into the game with a 6-1 record, its best mark since the 1979-80 season when Carlesimo was in charge. The Seahawks had won four straight, three in a row on the road.

It was obvious the Bruins were in for a long night when they missed their first five free-throw attempts.

They also had problems with their smaller opponent defensively after effectively foiling the bigger frontcourts of Nevada and Michigan. At one point in the half-court game, Vinson got so open under the basket for a layup that there wasn’t a UCLA player within two steps of him.

But at other times, the Bruins were in the Seahawks’ faces and they still found a way to swish the nets. Mark Porter was their leading scorer with 19 points.

Arron Afflalo led UCLA with 13, with Farmar and Darren Collison right behind with 12 each.

After Wagner went up 57-49 with 10:32 to play, UCLA went on a 12-2 run, broken only by a defensive lapse on Vinson, to go ahead 61-59.

But in the closing minute, the score was tied as Farmar brought the ball downcourt.

“It was supposed to be an isolation play for me,” Farmar said. “But I saw a guy coming at me and I saw Luc wide open.”

Finding space under the basket seems to be a Mbah a Moute specialty. After coming into the game as the Pac-10’s second-leading rebounder, he finished with a game-high seven rebounds and finished the Seahawks by smoothly putting the ball through the hoop as Vinson came over too late to stop him.

Well, almost finished them.

There was still that matter of the final 14.6 seconds.

Farmer and then Mbah a Moute played airtight defense as Wagner struggled unsuccessfully to get off one more shot before the final buzzer sounded.

That was followed by a final sigh of relief by Howland.