Going Is Slow, so UCLA Roughs It

By TIM KAWAKAMI

Dec. 21, 1997 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

There was more bleeding than speeding, more kneeing and screening and head-thwacking than the barreling Bruins had seen or felt all season.

Even UCLA Coach Steve Lavin ended up splattered with his own players’ blood, four Saint Louis players fouled out, and the Bruin locker room was strewn with ice packs and groggy players in the aftermath.

UCLA’s 73-67 maul-a-thon victory over Saint Louis on Saturday was about patience and persistence in the face of the Billikens’ determination to keep things at their own dawdling pace, and having an instinct for survival when the fastbreak is broken.

“It was a scratch-and-claw game,” said UCLA freshman point guard Baron Davis, who completed his 40-minute performance with two twisted ankles, a sore knee and a cut on his arm. “Scratching and kicking and biting and everything.”

Before 9,998 at Pauley Pavilion, 11th-ranked UCLA neither shot (40%) nor took care of the ball well (16 turnovers), and Saint Louis kept the Bruins within striking distance all game long despite a flat performance by superstar freshman guard Larry Hughes, who hurt his wrist, committed eight turnovers, and made only four of 12 shots (for 14 points).

But the Bruins (6-1) won their sixth consecutive game by playing their starting five for almost all of the second half, watching Toby Bailey and Earl Watson do most of the blue-collar digging, and by executing their oft-erratic half-court offense well enough to score on 19 of their last 25 possessions.

“Nobody really got hot for us,” Davis said, “so we just had to grind it out. We didn’t take many forced shots, and we showed we can win a slow-down game.”

Said Lavin: “Beating people by 30 or 20 like we’ve been doing is not going to prepare you for Pac-10 play. Our guys grew for this today.

“Toby Bailey was the key to this game, getting eight rebounds, and a real big one at the end, with his defense on Larry Hughes, and what he brought to the floor--not getting frustrated, keeping his head.”

It didn’t come easily against the Billikens, who fell to 8-1 but kept the Bruins’ running game hamstrung with lots of grabbing and bumps and caused an antsy feeling among UCLA players used to getting easy shot attempts and scores in the 90s.

Early in the second half, Saint Louis built a 36-29 lead before UCLA began to put together a run of half-court success.

UCLA senior J.R. Henderson in particular felt the brunt of the slam dance, getting at least one slap to the forehead and numerous knees to the lower extremities as he battled for position.

“In the post, they were really nudging us,” Henderson said. “They were using their knees to move us out, and I thought kneeing was illegal. But they weren’t calling it.”

It was his blood, caused by a cut on his elbow, that streaked Lavin’s shirt during a timeout. Henderson made only two of eight shots in the first half, missing more short shots than usual, and was only five for 15 in the game.

“It was frustrating,” said Henderson, who led UCLA with 19 points--12 in the second half--the fourth consecutive game in which he has been the Bruins’ high scorer. “But we didn’t let it get to us too much, and it showed in the result at the end of the game.

“We could’ve started arguing with each other . . . and complaining to the refs. . . . But the three seniors, me and Kris [Johnson] and Toby, we kept our composure, kind of set the tone for the younger guys, to get them through this.”

While the Bruins struggled to keep calm, the Billikens’ physical play eventually caught up with them.

All three of their big men--Ryan Luechtefeld, Matt Baniak and Chris Heinrich--fouled out. Hughes’ fifth foul with less than a minute left made it four Billikens disqualified from the game.

With Henderson leading the way with a nine-for-12 free-throw performance, UCLA made 32 of 49 free throws--19 of 26 in the second half. With the Billiken big men out, UCLA pulled away once Saint Louis narrowed it to 62-60, with 2:42 left.

The Billikens were whistled for 33 fouls, UCLA 19. Saint Louis shot 28 fewer free throws and made 20 fewer than the Bruins.

“We fouled too much, that’s the truth,” Saint Louis Coach Charlie Spoonhour said. “We did too much banging and reaching.”

For the Bruins, who had been flying freely through their nonconference schedule (that is, after the North Carolina opener), the Billikens were the perfect way to prepare themselves for the bump-and-grind styles of some of their more tricky conference opponents.

Lavin pointed to the Oregon and Stanford games, and Henderson said that once the league season starts, this might be the way every game goes.

“They’re all going to be, or most of them, down to the wire,” Henderson said. “It’ll all come down to . . . who can execute.”