Bruins Miss Out Again

EUGENE, Ore. â€”  This was buzzer’s luck, and UCLA had to hold its breath and wait like everybody else. Again.

In the bedlam of McArthur Court, in overtime, in the two seconds that seemed like a thousand, suddenly, there was a pause and there was a silence.

Then Toby Bailey’s lunging 28-foot buzzer-beater to win it glanced off the right side of the rim, and there was the roar from the Oregon crowd and a storm of activity as most of the 10,024 flooded the court to celebrate Oregon’s electrifying 87-85 victory Thursday night.

“It’s pretty nasty,� said senior forward Charles O’Bannon, whose career record at McArthur is 1-3. “I’m sick of losing here.�

The aftermath had all the recriminations of a furious battle: Bailey, who made a staggering 23-footer at the buzzer in regulation to send it to overtime and missed a 34-footer to tie it last Saturday in Louisville, displayed three long red scratches raked across his right inner elbow, which he said were the leftovers from Oregon guard Kenya Wilkins’ desperate defense on the final play.

Kris Johnson and Bob Myers bitterly recalled the taunts and bumps tossed at them from the rushing Duck crowd--which has jostled and insulted the Bruins in each of the last three home victories.

And UCLA interim Coach Steve Lavin slid out of the postgame locker room soaked in sweat and the belief that the Bruins (11-6, 6-2 in conference play) fought hard and should not be deflated by their second consecutive last-moment loss.

“In the six years I’ve been in this league as an assistant coach and a head coach,� Lavin said, “that was the best game I’ve ever been a part of.�

UCLA dropped into a first-place tie with Arizona for the Pac-10 lead with the loss.

“We’re still in first place, and this is still ours to win it or lose it,� Bailey said.

It was a back-and-forth game the whole way, and the Ducks (12-5, 3-5) held the lead for the last 8:54 of regulation--until Bailey’s tying shot.

But the Ducks pulled ahead for good on their final possession of overtime with some of their own strange magic.

With 16 seconds left and UCLA’s defense swarming at Wilkins and Jamal Lawrence, reserve forward Henry Madden took a pass from Jamar Curry, flashed free across the key and made a fall-away 10-footer over the leaping O’Bannon to give Oregon the two-point lead.

“It was just the law of averages--you try to take out their home run hitters,� Lavin said.

Lawrence wounded the Bruin defense all night with six three-pointers, and Wilkins scored all of his 18 points in the second half.

Said Madden, who scored six of his 14 points in the extra period: “I just wanted to get it above Charles--he can jump high and I didn’t want him throwing it into the bleachers.�

UCLA immediately called timeout, and Cameron Dollar had to inbound the ball with his back to the frenzied student section and two seconds left.

Bailey, who scored a game-high and season-high 24 points and once again played every second, rose to catch Dollar’s 50-foot heave, turned to his right, fought off Wilkins, and fired. And missed.

“I didn’t get that good of a look--I got hacked,� Bailey said. “But that’s all right, they did what they had to do.�

His stunning shot at the end of regulation came off the dribble, with UCLA down by three and six seconds left. He leaned in past Lawrence and shot as he stumbled to the floor to tie it.

“I thought we had the momentum going into overtime,� O’Bannon said. “And we got to the line, we got open looks, and we just didn’t hit them.�

The Bruins came out woozily and kicked away the ball six times in their first eight possessions, as the Ducks took eager advantage on their way to a 12-2 lead.

Reserve Bob Myers’ muscle inside helped trigger a Bruin 12-0 run to grab the lead, 22-21, with 7:40 left in the half, then extend it to 29-25. Myers had two rebounds and a basket in eight minutes of first-half action.

“It’s tough to get into the flow when you’re only getting 30 seconds or a minute each time out,� Myers said. “I got seven-eight tonight in a row, and it was nice to get back into it.�

Center Jelani McCoy played one of his most complete games, playing a career-high 41 minutes, grabbing eight rebounds, passing out four assists, and scoring 18 points.

* USC WINS

Rhodes scores 20 and Trojans hang on for a crucial victory at Oregon State. C9