Bruins squeak past Golden Bears
By Daily Bruin Staff
March 1, 2001 9:00 p.m.
PATIL ARMENIAN/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Ray
Young fakes out a Cal defender during Thursday’s game at
Pauley Pavilion.
By Chris Umpierre
Daily Bruin Staff
Their full-court press wasn’t effective. Their halfcourt
defense had a number of holes.
They were getting killed on the boards and Cal’s Sean
Lampley was eating them up alive.
No. 12 UCLA seemed prime for an upset loss to Cal that would
bring the school’s hopes to claim its first Pac-10 title
since 1997 to a screeching halt.
But the junior- and senior-ladened Bruin team (20-6, 13-2
Pac-10) reached deep down and grinded out a win, beating the Bears
(19-8, 10-5) 79-75 Thursday night in front of 11,753 in Pauley
Pavilion. UCLA has now won eight straight games.
“Against a well-coached Cal team we found a way to
manufacture a win,” said UCLA Head Coach Steve Lavin.
“We’re very fortunate to be on the winning side
tonight.”
The victory sets up the much-anticipated showdown against No. 1
Stanford (25-1, 14-1) on Saturday. With a win over the Cardinal,
which beat USC 70-68 on Thursday, the Bruins will claim sole
possession of first place in the conference.
UCLA had five players finish in double figures on Thursday, with
point guard Earl Watson leading the way with 20 points. Lampley
spearheaded Cal with 19 points and 13 rebounds.
The Bears had a number of chances to win the game in the later
stages.
With the game tied at 74 and less than two minutes to go, Cal
forward Solomon Hughes missed a free throw and UCLA center Dan
Gadzuric corralled the rebound.
In a hurry to get the ball to his point guard, Gadzuric
overthrew Watson and instead the ball fell into Shantay
Legans’ hands.
 PATIL ARMENIAN/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Billy
Knight pushes past a Cal defender as he scores some of his
14 points Thursday night. The Bruins won 79-75 in a tight finish.
The Bears were then able to find Ryan Forehan-Kelly standing wide
open behind the three-point arc. Kelly misfired on his three-point
attempt and the Bruins pulled down the rebound.
On UCLA’s next possession, Watson found forward Matt
Barnes flashing in the key. Barnes then made an acrobatic up and
under shot over Lampley’s outstretched hands to give the
Bruins a 76-74 lead that they would not relinquish.
“We are an older team and we play with a lot of
composure,” said Bruin guard Billy Knight, whose team was
behind for most of the second half. “Even when we are down we
concentrate on playing hard and aggressive.
“We know teams are not as smart as us,” he added.
“We know teams will make their run and that’s it. And
then it’s our turn to take over.”
Cal Head Coach Ben Braun felt his team got a raw deal from the
officials.
“I’ve never been on probation but maybe I should
be,” said Braun, in reference to the Pac-10’s decision
to place Lavin on probation after his outburst toward an official
last weekend.
“Maybe (my team) will get just 17 fouls called,” he
said.
Lampley was the main reason Cal should have won on Thursday.
The power forward, who is the Bears’ leading scorer, was a
tough matchup all night for the Bruins.
“He’s probably going to be Pac-10 player of the
year,” Barnes said. “We knew if he got off we
couldn’t let anyone else get off.”
Lavin decided to double-team Lampley late in the game and force
Cal’s other players to beat the Bruins. The plan worked.
The victory takes away some of the bad taste from UCLA’s
embarrassing 92-63 loss to the Bears a month ago. That was the
Bruins’ last loss.
“It’s a little payback, but we are always going to
have that game in the back of our mind,” Barnes said.
“But that’s in the back of our mind ““ we’re
looking ahead right now.”
Ahead for the Bruins is No. 1 Stanford. Ten minutes after
Thursday’s win, a number of students remained in Pauley to
chant “Bring on Stanford.”
Just a half an hour after the game, some 50 students were
already camping out for tickets to Saturday’s game.
