A Halt to the march

Published: Monday, March 31, 1997

Monday, March 31, 1997

By Emmanuelle Ejercito

and Hye Kwon

Daily Bruin StaffUCLA's tournament run ended abruptly on March 22 against Minnesota, just one game short of the Final Four.

As UCLA moved forward through the tournament field, the games were closer and closer, until in the end the Gophers stayed close for too long.

UCLA 109, Charleston So. 75

In front of 21,020 in the Palace of Auburn Hills, the Bruins amassed their highest point total of the season against the Buccaneers (17-13).

The starting five for the Bruins all scored in double figures, and Jelani McCoy led the way with a career-high tying 21 points. UCLA, which led the nation in field goal percentage coming into the tournament, torched the nets with 54.7 percent shooting.

UCLA 96, Xavier 83

The second-seeded UCLA men's basketball team earned a date with Iowa State in the Sweet Sixteen after marching over Xavier in the second round of the NCAA Tourna-ment.

UCLA struggled early against the full court press applied by the Musketeers. In the first 8:30 of the game, the Bruins committed 11 turnovers.

Xavier (23-6) jumped out to an 11-4 lead before senior

forward Charles O'Bannon took over. The Bruins went on an 8-0 run to take their first lead of the game at 12-11 with 13:40 left in the half. After O'Bannon tied the score at 15 with a three pointer, the Bruins never looked back.

Center Jelani McCoy played only 19 minutes due to injuries. In the first half, McCoy suffered from a bloody nose that kept him on the bench for the half's last 10 minutes. Then in the second half, McCoy suffered the injury that would hurt UCLA later on a bruised sternum that came when Xavier center Torraye Braggs bumped into him. McCoy tallied 10 points and blocked five shots before leaving the game at 7:44 to recuperate in the locker room.

UCLA 74, Iowa St. 73

Staring elimination from the NCAA Tournament and Iowa State shot blocker Kelvin Cato right in the face, Cameron Dollar nailed a floating five-footer with 1.9 seconds remaining in overtime to lead the No. 2-seeded Bruins over the Cyclones in front of 29,231 at the Alamodome.

At the conclusion of a tug-of-war extra period, the game came down to one last play with 10 seconds remaining on the clock, after ISU's Shawn Bankhead had put his team up 73-72. Instead of calling a timeout and setting up a play in the huddle, the Bruins (24-7) put the ball in the hands of their senior point guard, who showed he had the poise to handle it.

"Whenever you see a big man, you never shy away from the big man," Dollar, who finished with a career-high 20 points, said. "So, I just really tried to go up into him (Cato) and get a shot off. If he blocks it, we go home. And if I make it, we advance. We were fortunate and blessed for the shot to go in."

Subsequently, the Cyclones (22-9) had a last-second chance exactly 1.9 seconds' worth, to be exact to reverse fate. Iowa State head coach Tim Floyd called for an in-bound play, designed to draw a charge on the man faced guarding the inbounder.

In this case, it was UCLA center Jelani McCoy who harassed Klay Edwards. Cyclone guard Ded-ric Willoughby, who poured in 34 points on the night, set up to draw the charge on unsuspecting McCoy. But instead, a five-second violation was called on Edwards.

In the post-game press conference, the dejected Cyclones vocally expressed their displeasure with the non-call on McCoy.

"The last play really did us in," Willoughby said. "I think the referee missed the call because I told him I was going to take a charge. We work on that play everyday in practice and it takes approximately three-and-a-half seconds. If I had five seconds left in my life, I wouldn't want that referee to make that call again."

Minnesota 80, UCLA 72

The Bruins (24-8) have logged many come-from-behind wins this season, most recently the one-point victory over Iowa State, but this time it was Minnesota's turn to rally back from a double-digit deficit. In the Midwest Regional Final, UCLA's 12-game win streak ended at the hands of the top-seeded Gophers, 80-72.

Center Jelani McCoy played only 10 minutes in the first half due to injury. When the sophomore fought for a rebound, he received a hit in the chest which re-aggravated the bruised sternum he received during the Xavier game. Doubled over in pain and having a hard time breathing, McCoy would see only three minutes of action in the second half after he begged UCLA head coach Steve Lavin to let him play.

With McCoy on the bench, the Gophers were able to get easy deuces under the basket. And UCLA started turning over the ball. In the second half, the Bruins committed 11 turnovers as the Gophers cleaned up their act and handed the ball over only four times.

Minnesota took the lead, and kept it for the rest of the game.

JUSTIN WARREN/Daily Bruin

Cameron Dollar sunk the last-second shot which put the Bruins ahead for good against Iowa State in the NCAA Regional Semifinals at the Alamodome.JUSTIN WARREN/Daily Bruin

Matt Harbour (center) and the team did experience many high points during the tournament. Here they celebrate a brief lead over the Gophers in the second half.JUSTIN WARREN/Daily Bruin

O'Bannon slams one home for the boys.JUSTIN WARREN/Daily Bruin

Down the stretch, the Bruins couldn't gnaw away at the Gopher lead.