NCAA BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT : MIDWEST AND EAST REGIONALS : UCLA Missed Out on a Small Chance : Bruins: They couldn't take advantage when Duke's big men got into foul trouble.

NCAA BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT : MIDWEST AND EAST REGIONALS : UCLA Missed Out on a Small Chance : Bruins: They couldn’t take advantage when Duke’s big men got into foul trouble.

By THOMAS BONK

March 23, 1990 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — It was a situation made to order for UCLA.

Five minutes into the second half, Duke’s big men--6-11 Christian Laettner and 6-10 Alaa Abdelnaby--each had four fouls.

All season long, the Bruins were vulnerable to teams with tall inside players and here they were in the East Regional semifinal with their two principal tormentors on the bench.

Duke led, 52-50, with Laettner and Abdelnaby only one foul away from taking a seat on the bench for the rest of the game.

“We were in trouble,” Abdelnaby said.

But in the ultimate twist to UCLA’s NCAA tournament hopes, the Bruins failed to take advantage of the situation and the Blue Demons wrapped up a 90-81 victory Thursday night.

UCLA, which beat relatively small Alabama Birmingham and Kansas, found itself lacking when they reduced Duke to a normal-sized team.

Such irony was not lost on UCLA forward Don MacLean, who had 21 points and 15 rebounds.

“That something like that would wind up beating us when that was our strongest point all year--playing smaller lineups--well, it’s a funny game sometimes,” MacLean said.

When his inside game suddenly became smaller, Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski shuttled Laettner and Abdelnaby in and out of the lineup before finally using them both despite their fouls.

At the four-foul juncture, Krzyzewski made an assessment.

“I thought we were in a situation where we would lose the game,” Krzyzewski said.

And although it was Duke’s backcourt of Phil Henderson and Bobby Hurley who assumed the offensive burden, neither of the Blue Devil big men were challenged inside as UCLA struggled to stay close.

Laettner had 24 points and 14 rebounds in 32 minutes and Abdelnaby had 14 points and seven rebounds in 20 minutes.

Abdelnaby was surprised he wasn’t visited more often by UCLA’s offense.

“They should have forced the issue, but they didn’t do it, thank goodness,” Abdelnaby said. “They should have come to me and Christian a bit more and put us in a position to block a shot or make a spectacular play or foul.”

UCLA Coach Jim Harrick downplayed the foul trouble of Laettner and Abdelnaby. He said their being burdened with four fouls was of no consequence.

“That wasn’t the difference,” Harrick said. “The difference was Henderson made some shots and we missed.”

However, Trevor Wilson said the Bruins missed a rare opportunity with Duke’s big players.

“We didn’t do a good job of taking advantage of their fouls,” Wilson said. “We didn’t execute our offense like we normally do. But we had the shots. We just didn’t hit them.”

The Bruins shot only 40.6% and MacLean blamed tired legs and a poorly constructed offense down the stretch.

“We didn’t get the ball inside,” he said. “I don’t know why. We kind of rushed our shots and tried to get the lead back as soon as we could. When the big guys went out, it’s funny, but we didn’t go to the boards the same way.

“It’s real late in the season and my legs are shot right now,” MacLean said. “Maybe that’s what happened. All I know is it’s a funny game.”