Friday, January 30, 1998
Hoopster’s game half full, not half empty
M. HOOPS: UCLA falls behind early but comes back strong to kill
Washington Huskies 88-68
By Emmanuelle Ejercito
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
Whatever it was that Bruin head coach Steve Lavin told the No. 8
UCLA men’s basketball team at intermission on Thursday night, it
sure did work.
"I’m sure Lavin went in at halftime and said, ‘This is
Washington State and we can’t allow this to happen,’" WSU head
coach Kevin Eastman said.
After a lethargic first half, the Bruins (16-3 overall, 6-2
Pac-10) found themselves trailing the Cougars 34-33 in front of
10,024 at Pauley Pavilion.
But UCLA would use the press and a nearly perfect second-half
performance by freshman Baron Davis to defeat WSU 88-68.
"We were playing their game – a slow game," said senior J.R.
Henderson who finished with 17 points and seven rebounds. "We had a
fast start, but we just didn’t get out there like we wanted to. It
was frustrating really."
To increase the pace in the second half, the Bruins pressured
the Cougars and forced turnovers left and right. All-in-all
Washington State committed 29 turnovers. The 16 second-half WSU
turnovers would result in easy Bruin baskets and help UCLA to a
60.6 percent shooting clip.
In the first four minutes after the break UCLA put together a
11-3 run to lead 46-37.
"The press picked up our intensity, it picked up our emotions
and that carried over into energy," senior Kris Johnson said. "The
press was good to us, it created a lot of turnovers, got us easy
buckets, the crowd got into it and it was fun."
Davis, too, was having a pretty good time in the second half.
The freshman guard, who has fouled out in three of the last four
games, stayed out of foul trouble and was a perfect eight for eight
from the field after intermission. Davis scored a game-high 21
points.
"I thought Baron did a tremendous job penetrating and being on
balance," Lavin said. "Tonight was a clear example of how he
controls the game."
Davis also contributed seven assists and five of UCLA’s 18
steals.
"I think I just got into the flow of the team structure and just
the flow of the game," Davis said. "I don’t think I took (the game)
over. I was just taking shots and trying to create for my
teammates."
UCLA could never really breakaway in the first half. The Bruins
never led by more than six points. WSU took the lead with 2:50 left
in the half after Kojo Mensah-Bonsu connected on a jumper.
But the Bruins held it together. The victory guaranteed UCLA its
50th straight winning season and kept WSU winless in Pauley.
SUSIE MING HWA CHU
Baron Davis ties up Blake Pengelly for a jump ball and tied up
WSU with 21 points.