Davis’ buzzer shot sends Ducks quacking

Friday, February 5, 1999

Davis’ buzzer shot sends Ducks quacking

M.HOOPS Last-minute plays against Oregon boost Bruins toward
decisive 79-77 victory

By Brent Boyd

Daily Bruin Senior Staff

Baron Davis didn’t need to apologize this time … unless it was
for ripping the hearts out of Oregon Thursday night.

The sophomore point guard hit a jump shot at the buzzer, which
enabled UCLA to defeat the Ducks, 79-77, in a game the Bruins just
refused to lose.

With seven seconds remaining and the game tied, Davis took an
inbounds pass from underneath UCLA’s basket. He dribbled the length
of the floor, blew past Oregon’s Alex Scales, stopped short of the
free-throw line, and shot the ball just over the outstretched hand
of the Oregon guard.

It came only two days after Davis was forced to apologize to the
Pac-10 conference for comments he made about the officiating in
UCLA’s loss on Sunday.

And it came at the end of one of his best games of the season.
He finished with 12 points and had a career-high 11 assists.

"It was luck, pure luck," Davis said of the shot. "I’ve been
practicing that shot, but I’m not going to say I knew it was going
in. I was hoping it was going in."

In it went, and with it, UCLA (16-5, 7-3 Pac-10) moved into a
second-place tie with Arizona and sent Oregon (10-9, 2-8 Pac-10) to
its fifth consecutive loss and its eighth in the past nine games.
And with it, UCLA will be riding some momentum into Sunday’s 12:30
p.m. home match-up against Oregon State (11-8, 5-5 Pac-10).

The shot was the final bullet in a furious 63-second assault on
the Ducks that allowed UCLA to escape with the comeback win.

Freshman forward Jerome Moiso hit a jumper with just over a
minute remaining to cut the Oregon lead to 77-75. But when Ray
Young missed a three-pointer with about about 30 seconds left, an
upset looked like a distinct possibility.

The Bruin defense, however, took the game over.

Davis stole the ball from Oregon forward A.D. Smith in the
backcourt and dished it off to Young for an easy dunk that tied the
score with 23 seconds remaining.

On the ensuing possession, UCLA guard Earl Watson drew a charge
from Frederick Jones, and the stage was set for Davis’ heroics.

It was only fitting that this game would be decided at the
buzzer, as it was extremely close throughout. No team led by more
than four points at any point in the final 14 minutes of play.

Oregon used a big lineup to knock around the Bruins down low –
UCLA was out-rebounded 37-25 – while UCLA used quickness to
survive. The Bruins had 12 steals, and Oregon finished with 25
turnovers, nine more than UCLA.

"It wasn’t a pretty win, but it was very hard fought, and that’s
all you can ask for as a coach," UCLA head coach Steve Lavin
said.

Five Bruins finished with double figures, including freshman
forward JaRon Rush, who scored 17. Rush only missed one of his four
three-point attempts and had numerous key plays down the
stretch.

Watson finished with 16 points, while forward Travis Reed added
13. Bruin center Dan Gadzuric played only eight minutes because his
tendinitis was acting up. He is expected to play Sunday.

* * *

Liron Artiz, a fifth-year sociology student, received the
loudest cheers of the day – before the second half, anyway.

He hit all four of his shots at halftime to win the SuperShot
contest and free tuition and books for a quarter.AARON TOUT

Freshman guard Earl Watson drives toward the basket during
UCLA’s narrow 79-77 victory over the University of Oregon.

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