Friday, January 31, 1997

M. HOOPS:

Bruins lose to the Ducks, 87-85, in overtime, now share No. 1 spot with ArizonaBy Hye Kwon

Daily Bruin Staff

EUGENE, Ore. -- Playing in a crucial conference game in a hostile environment Thursday night, Toby Bailey of the UCLA men's basketball team almost walked on water twice.

First, the junior guard sent the game into overtime with just seconds remaining in the second half when he hit a lunging three pointer.

Then, Bailey (who finished with a game high 24 points) nearly pulled off a win at the end of the overtime session with a shotput try from 27 feet. Unfortunately for UCLA, Bailey's shot caromed off the rim at the buzzer. The missed shot was enough to give the crowd a reason to storm the court, celebrating Oregon's 87-85 victory.

The loss dropped UCLA's overall record to 11-6, but more importantly for tournament implications down the line, the Bruins' Pacific 10 mark sank to 6-2. They are now tied with Arizona, which beat Washington State Thursday night, for first place in the Pac-10.

Despite the blow UCLA took at McArthur Court in Eugene, head coach Steve Lavin praised his team's relentless effort.

"I told (the team) that this was the best game I've ever been part of as an assistant or a head coach," Lavin said. "Just far as the back and forth exchanging leads and teams fighting back on one another, no team able to put away until the very last second ­ that reflects how strong a conference this is."

In overtime, the Ducks (12-5, 3-5) held the lead most of the five minutes of action, thanks in large part to Jamal Lawrence and the rest of the Ducks' continuous sharp shooting from outside. However, the Bruins were able to climb back once again and the scoreboard read 85-85 with 16 seconds remaining on the clock.

Hoping to surprise the Ducks who were coming out of a timeout, and to keep the ball out of the hands of point guard Kenya Wilkins and Lawrence, the Bruins came out with a full court trap. UCLA was able to force the ball into the hands of Henry Madden, an unlikely hero. But Madden's 6-footer was a swish and Bailey's desperate attempt bounced off the back of the rim.

"It wouldn't have been fair if he hit that shot the second time," said Wilkins, who guarded Bailey on the play. "With UCLA, there's so much hype, a win against them always goes noticed."

In the early going, it appeared that Oregon was on its way to an easy time. With pinpoint accuracy from the three-point territory, which rendered UCLA's zone highly ineffective, Jamal Lawrence hit two treys and helped the Ducks jump out to a 12-2 lead. Oregon's lead would grow as much as 12 points in the first half, but with a combination of UCLA's switch to zone and the Ducks' process of cooling off, the score at halftime read 36-34.

That was when the tug-of-war match started, as neither team was able to get on a substantial scoring run in the second half. The closest one resembling such was Oregon's 7-0 run ending at 3:32, which was matched by UCLA's 8-1 run of their own, with Bailey's three pointer capping it off.

"This was a good win for us and how much it helps us, we'll find out Saturday night," Oregon head coach Jerry Green said. "I wanted to play good and I thought it was an excellent basketball game."

UCLA will remain in the Pacific Northwest to take on Oregon State on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m.

Like the Bruins, the Beavers are coming off of a loss from Thursday night. OSU lost to USC 71-68, dropping its record to 5-12 overall and 1-7 in Pac-10.

SUSIE MING HWA CHU/Daily Bruin

Toby Bailey played the entire game against Oregon and led the Bruins with 24 points and seven rebounds. His effort was wasted as the Bruins lost by two points in overtime.