Friday, February 13, 1998
Heartbroken Bruins fall to Stanford
MBASKETBALL: Last-minute effort not enough to regain
advantage
By Emmanuelle Ejercito
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
The No. 9 UCLA men’s basketball team fell to No. 14 Stanford,
literally.
The Bruins (18-5 overall, 8-4 Pac 10) dropped their first home
game of the season to the Cardinal, 84-81, before a crowd of
13,079.
"Of course it hurts to lose at home," J.R. Henderson said. "I
felt that we were tough at home, we were undefeated at home, we
wanted to keep that going tonight, but we just fell short of that
goal."
Any hope of a fourth-straight conference title dimmed with the
Stanford loss. UCLA finds itself in third place and is now four
games behind No. 3 Arizona. This was also the first opponent sweep
against the Bruins since the 1993-1994 season. The Cardinal
defeated UCLA, 93-80, earlier in the season.
The Bruins turned the ball over 19 times on Thursday night and
none were more painful than the last two.
UCLA found itself down by as much as 15 points in the second
half before making a comeback. The Bruins were down by two after
Stanford’s Arthur Lee connected on two free throws.
With 0:33 left on the clock, UCLA brought the ball up looking
inside for J.R. Henderson who scored a game-high 26 points. Toby
Bailey sent the ball in Henderson’s direction, but the ball went
through Henderson’s hands.
"I just mishandled it, it could of went both ways, I just lost
the ball," Henderson said. "I was waiting for the ball, I could
have caught it, it could’ve been a better pass, the defender was
there, just a number of things. We just couldn’t make the
play."
But the Bruins would have one last chance. Fifteen ticks were
left on the clock and UCLA had possession of the ball. Bailey was
making his approach for the game-tying basket, but slipped and the
Cardinal (20-3, 9-2) recovered the ball.
"I shouldn’t have fell down, it was my fault," said Bailey who
had 19 points for the night. "I was just trying to go too fast and
my feet couldn’t keep up."
The Bruins came out sharp, pressing and forcing early turnovers
to lead by as much as 10. But the Cardinal would close out the
first half with an 8-0 run to take a 45-38 lead into the locker
room.
Stanford would break open its lead in the second half and take a
70-55 advantage with 8:11 to go. That’s when it was the Bruins’
turn to make their run.
Despite the fact that three of its players (Bailey, Baron Davis
and Kris Johnson) were on the floor with four fouls each, UCLA
would use its press to force four turnovers and score 15 unanswered
points to tie the game behind a Baron Davis right hand bank at the
4:53 mark.
"We weren’t sustaining for 40 minutes, we were playing in
spurts," Jelani McCoy said. "We’ve got to play 40 minutes hard,
we’ve got to execute for forty minutes and that’s what Stanford
did."
The Bruins will get a chance to play the 40 minutes that they
are looking for against California on Saturday.
On Thursday night, the Golden Bears (9-11, 5-6) mauled USC 73-43
at the Sports Arena.
"(The loss) is a tough one to take, but we just got to take it,
bounce back against Cal and not get swept (at home)," Johnson
said.