O’Bannon puts icing on cake

O’Bannon puts icing on cake

Junior forward sinks shot to give Bruins 61-59 win over ‘SC

By Scott Yamaguchi

and Melissa Anderson

Daily Bruin Staff

LOS ANGELES — Raise a glass to Charles O’Bannon, who celebrated
his 21st birthday Thursday, and celebrated in grand fashion.

O’Bannon, a junior forward on the No. 15 UCLA men’s basketball
team, sank a hanging, 12-foot baseline jumper with 0.4 seconds left
on the clock to give the Bruins a 61-59 win over cross-town rival
USC in front of 9,433 at the Sports Arena.

"That was a great shot by Charles O’Bannon," UCLA head coach Jim
Harrick said. "He went up strong, he was going to the basket, and
when he goes to the basket on his shot, he’s a terrific
shooter."

Not that O’Bannon’s heroics should have been necessary. In the
two teams’ first meeting this year, a Jan. 24 clash at Pauley
Pavilion, the Bruins (19-6 overall, 12-2 in Pacific 10) lit the
Trojans up with a school-record 73.1 shooting percentage en route
to a 99-72 shellacking. USC (11-15, 4-10) had only won one game
since that loss, and it entered Thursday’s contest with the worst
scoring defense in the league.

But with Trojan guard Stais Boseman leading an emotional,
near-perfect attack in the first half, UCLA found itself down by
eight points at the break.

"They played with a lot more emotion than we did in the first
half," Harrick said. "I’ll tell you, that was a near-flawless first
half."

The Trojans committed just one turnover in the opening 20
minutes, and though they shot just 41.4 percent from the floor,
they outrebounded UCLA 13-11 – including six offensive boards – and
took 10 more shots.

That’s not to say that UCLA played poorly. In fact, the Bruins,
who still rank last in the conference in turnover margin, put
together one of their most solid halves of the season. They turned
the ball over just seven times, shot 52.6 percent from the field
and made all six of their free throw attempts.

It’s just that Boseman, who is better known for his defensive
tenacity, was on fire on the offensive end of the court. He had 14
points in the first half, five of which came over the last four
minutes, when the Trojans broke the game open with an 11-0 scoring
run.

That run, capped by a Boseman foul shot with 4.6 seconds
remaining, left USC up by 10 points, and it appeared that the
Trojans would enter the locker room with a double-digit lead on a
team they hadn’t defeated in their last three tries.

Then, O’Bannon took a long inbound pass from J.R. Henderson and
was fouled on his way to the basket. He made both free throws with
no time remaining on the clock, and the Bruins kept the ball
rolling early in the second half, when the deficit was cut to
three.

But Trojan center Avondre Jones, who returned to action Thursday
after a four-game suspension, scored seven of the Trojans’ next
eight points, and the lead was back up to eight.

Jones’ dominance inside prompted Harrick to pull freshman center
Jelani McCoy out of the lineup, move Henderson onto Jones, and
insert sophomore Kris Johnson.

Johnson, who averages 11.7 points per game, was taken out of the
starting lineup last weekend in favor of a healthy Cameron Dollar.
His response to the demotion?

Another outstanding offensive performance.

After scoring just four points in the first half, he finished
the game with 17 on six-of-nine shooting from the field and a
perfect five-for-five from the foul line.

"Kris played great, he came off the bench and gave us some great
scoring," said Toby Bailey, who finished with nine points and five
assists. "That’s what we needed – we were cold and our shots
weren’t on. Kris came in, and he was just hitting it."

One minute after he entered the game, with his team trailing by
eight, Johnson grabbed an offensive rebound and laid it in, keying
a 12-1 scoring run that gave UCLA it’s first lead of the second
half.

Johnson had nine points and a steal in the run, which wasn’t
quite enough to put the Trojans out.

Boseman tied the score again with a slam dunk at the 5:36 mark,
and two minutes later, Tyson Reuter put USC up, 55-52, with a trey
from the right corner.

Johnson was clutch down the stretch, knocking down a six-foot
jumper to tie the score at 57, and then sinking a 16-foot base line
jumper to give the Bruins a two-point lead with 58 seconds to
go.

McCoy fouled Jones on the Trojans next possession, however, and
the Trojan center, who had made just three of his six free throws
in the game, sank both to tie the score with 10 seconds left.

That only set the table for O’Bannon, who was waiting on the
left wing as Bailey brought the ball down court for the final
sequence.

"As long as we weren’t going to lose the game, we wanted to come
down and spread the floor," Harrick said. "Ten seconds is an
eternity, and you can get a good look.

"I thought Bailey did a great job, he recognized that he didn’t
have anything, and he gave it to Charles."

Of course, O’Bannon didn’t have the clearest look at the basket,
either.

"He jumped in the air, and there were some hands in his face,"
Bailey said. "But he can jump and hang higher than most of the
people out there, so he just hung in the air until everybody else
went down, and then he shot an open shot."

* * *

The Bruins travel out of the conference this weekend to face
Atlantic Coast Conference rival Duke in a 12:45 p.m. match-up at
Cameron Indoor Arena.

Struggling to a 7-7 conference record so far this season, the
unranked Blue Devils provide a threat from nearly every angle.

On the perimeter, Duke is led by senior Chris Collins, who is
shooting 43 percent from beyond the three-point arc. Joining
Collins is junior Jeff Chapel, the team’s leading scorer at 16.9
points per game.

"They kind of remind us of Arizona," UCLA assistant coach Steve
Lavin said. "They’ve got a dribble penetration game, they’ve got a
three-point attack.

"We are going into a very tough environment, too, so it’ll be a
great test for our guys to kind of see where we’re at. It’s the
kind of game we’re looking forward to."

FRED HE/Daily Bruin

Junior forward Charles O’Bannon celebrates his 21st birthday
with Bruin men’s basketball teammates after their 61-59 win over
cross-town rival USC.

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