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Jason Kapono, clawing for the basketball, grabs San Diego’s Jason Blair during last night’s 86-81 overtime defeat against the Toreros.

Too bad college basketball games are 40 minutes long.

Or, in the case of Tuesday night’s game, 45.

The Bruins played admirably for 35 minutes in their season opener Tuesday night, but it was the final 10 minutes that cost them the victory in an 86-81 overtime loss to San Diego in front of 6,845 spectators at Pauley Pavilion.

“We have to learn how to put teams away,” forward Dijon Thompson said.

UCLA was up by as many as eight points in the second half, but costly turnovers and poor shooting, combined with dominant post play from San Diego center Jason Keep, allowed the Toreros to climb back to tie the game at 73 at the end of regulation play.

Keep finished with 30 points and 16 rebounds, both game highs. In all, the Bruins were outrebounded 49-33, and San Diego had 21 of those rebounds on the offensive glass.

“We needed to contain their second shots by getting more defensive rebounds,” Thompson added.

But despite Keep’s domination on the boards, the Bruins – specifically guard Jason Kapono – had several opportunities to quell the San Diego rally by hitting key shots.

Needless to say, the Bruins came up short. Kapono went 1-for-9 from the field in the second half before fouling out in overtime. The whole team seemed to take questionable shots down the stretch.

“My leg was cramping up in the second half,” Kapono said. “Those are shots I usually make throughout the fall, winter, spring and summer. I just didn’t have my legs.”

Tuesday’s loss puts UCLA in a tough spot. They have yet to win as a team, dropping two exhibition games and then losing again Tuesday night. And now they go against No. 6 Duke on Friday on national television.

“We are on alert now,” point guard Cedric Bozeman said. “That red light is coming on. We need to step up our game.”

To the Bruins’ credit, they did step up their game last night in comparison to the exhibition games, which were both embarrassing debacles.

“I feel like we got better today,” Cummings said. “We made a big step forward.”

Despite the decent play, San Diego (2-0) never quit, playing 45 minutes of intense, smart basketball.

“They came out firing,” guard Jon Crispin said. “They would have beat a lot of teams with the way they played tonight. They did everything right. You have to give them credit.”

“Obviously this is a big win for our program,” said San Diego head coach Brad Holland, a former UCLA player and assistant coach who is in his ninth season with the Toreros. “To come in and beat a ranked team, this is probably our biggest win since I’ve come here.”

UCLA head coach Steve Lavin possibly handed San Diego the win by not using the full-court press at all, opting to go with a half-court man and zone defense instead.

Lavin said the absence of redshirt sophomore Ryan Walcott, who was sitting out the first game of a two game suspension, was the main reason he didn’t press.

But the breakdown of both the perimeter defense (San Diego hit nine three-pointers) and the post defense left many spectators second-guessing that move.

Whether UCLA should be ranked in the top 15 is another story. With the lack of a dominant inside presence, and with trouble playing intense basketball, the Bruins have a lot of work to do to gain back their respectability.

“We are a long way from being a good basketball team,” head coach Steve Lavin said. “We are short on quickness and depth.”