Bruin Victory Is Bid Business

The end was swift, and now the UCLA Bruins, after a 69-61 victory over Oregon State, are tied for third place in the Pacific 10 Conference and maybe one more win away from their first NCAA tournament bid in three years.

In a 20-second flurry Thursday night when the game was tied at 61-61, Oregon State forward Nick DeWitz was forced into an awkward, leaning miss by good UCLA defense, freshman Arron Afflalo muscled for the rebound, freshman Jordan Farmar found the wide-open Afflalo and Afflalo made a three-point basket with 1 minute 42 seconds left in the game.

Afflalo’s basket gave UCLA the lead for good as the Bruins held on in front of 10,947 at Pauley Pavilion.

Combined with Stanford’s loss to Washington State, the Bruins (17-9, 10-7) are now tied with the Cardinal for third with a home game left against Oregon. Stanford faces 10th-ranked Washington on Saturday.

Not since the 1987-88 season, when the Bruins were 16-14 overall and 12-6 in the conference, has a third-place Pac-10 team not received an NCAA bid. And nothing about this win over the Beavers (16-12, 8-9) came easily.

While Afflalo had the biggest shot, Farmar had the biggest game. Playing 36 minutes under constant pressure from Oregon State’s guards, Farmar scored 23 points, with seven rebounds, seven assists and only two turnovers.

Farmar had committed nine turnovers in a thoroughly terrible performance on New Year’s Eve when the Beavers defeated UCLA, 85-80, at Corvallis.

“I thought Jordan was outstanding tonight,” UCLA Coach Ben Howland said.

“Tonight Jordan really kept his composure,” said senior Dijon Thompson, who scored 18 points. “Against some good, solid guards, Jordan played really calm when he needed to and he was aggressive when he needed to be.”

Oregon State didn’t arrive at Pauley until nearly 7 p.m. The Beavers learned a hard lesson about Los Angeles traffic -- it took them nearly two hours to drive from Manhattan Beach to Pauley.

But Oregon State Coach Jay John didn’t blame frazzled traffic nerves for the loss. He gave credit to Farmar.

“He controlled the game,” John said. “He’s fantastic and that’s why I voted for him for freshman of the year.”

Farmar’s good decisions and UCLA’s determination to keep moving arms and legs on defense helped overcome a shaky shooting night. After they had made a season-high 14 of 23 three-pointers Sunday against Notre Dame the Bruins made only five of 23 long-range shots and were only 22 for 60 (36.7%) overall from the field.

It was as if the Beavers had set up red lights up and down the court. Stop, start. Stop, start. The Bruins couldn’t run, the Beavers couldn’t run away. Oregon State would take a five-point lead, UCLA would sneak ahead by two or three by running a fastbreak off a rebound or a turnover. The Beavers would run 30-second offensive sets until big, strong, smart senior David Lucas (game-high 24 points) would push in a baby hook or a layup.

And Pauley Pavilion became uncomfortably quiet when Lucas scored six straight points on shots from no more than five feet away and the Beavers took a 31-26 lead shortly before halftime. Even when Afflalo took a pass in stride and swished a 20-footer as the buzzer sounded, the Bruins shuffled off the court to mostly silence.

It was Afflalo who kept the Bruins close in the first half and Afflalo who put them ahead at the end. He had eight rebounds at halftime plus seven points and three assists. The two Bruin 7-footers -- Michael Fey and Ryan Hollins -- accounted for four rebounds between them, but Hollins (nine points, six rebounds) played his best half of basketball this season in the second half.

“We showed maturity and character to come back,” Howland said. “This was a very good win. It was a gutty performance against an outstanding team.”

UCLA also made 10 of its last 11 free throws. Farmar was eight for eight from the foul line. Just what a point guard needs to do.

“I was looking to be aggressive, to just be a point guard out there,” he said. “Just trying to read and react.”