Weak Wazzu gets walloped in Westwood

Friday, February 26, 1999

M.HOOPS: Even with loss of center, UCLA defeats WSU, 100-61

By Brent Boyd

Daily Bruin Senior Staff

UCLA completely dominated Washington State from the opening tip to the final horn Thursday night.

Though the Pauley Pavilion scoreboard displayed a 100-61 victory for the Bruins (20-7, 10-5 Pac-10), the final score was not nearly indicative of how soundly UCLA controlled the Cougars (10-17, 4-12) throughout the entire contest.

"That was total domination on both defense and offense," said junior forward Sean Farnham, who scored six points.

UCLA dominated the contest to such an extent that four players matched their career-high in points.

The Bruins dominated the contest to such an extent that they had a 48-point lead, 82-34, with under 10 minutes remaining.

And the boys from Westwood dominated the game to such an extent that for a 10-minute span in the second half, UCLA had at least double the points of the Cougars.

UCLA forced 31 turnovers - mainly resulting from a tenacious full-court press - held WSU to under 27 percent shooting from the field, and had runs of 17-2, 11-2, 10-1 and 20-0.

But perhaps most impressively, UCLA out-rebounded WSU, 41-33, despite missing freshman center Dan Gadzuric who is out for the season with a knee injury.

"This is a team that can collectively overcome a loss (of a player)," UCLA head coach Steve Lavin said. "Of course it's a loss losing a 6-foot-10 player who's effective at both ends of the floor."

Though the Bruins dominated the game, looking at the their opponent puts the victory in perspective. WSU stands at last place in the Pac-10, has not won a conference game on the road, and has no starter taller than 6 feet 6 inches tall.

But when Washington arrives at Pauley Pavilion on Saturday at 3 p.m. it may be a different story. The Huskies (16-10, 9-7) are led by the Pac-10's leading rebounder, 7-foot center Todd MacCulloch.

The outcome of the Washington State contest was never in doubt, however, after its opening minutes.

Five minutes into the game, UCLA led 17-2 and ended the first half with a 50-27 lead. The Bruins then scored the first 16 points of the second half and played the final 15 minutes on cruise control.

Sophomore guard Baron Davis led the Bruins with 17 points and 11 assists, despite playing only 26 minutes.

He had eight assists by half-time and would have had a legitimate shot at breaking the UCLA single game record of 15, but he played sparingly in the second half.

Sophomore guard Earl Watson added 13 points and six assists for the Bruins, while freshmen forwards JaRon Rush and Jerome Moiso led UCLA with six rebounds apiece.

Senior guard Brandon Loyd made 4-of-7 three-point attempts for 12 points, while Moose Bailey added 11 points in 17 minutes and sophomore guard Todd Ramasar scored six.

JAMIE SCANLON-JACOBS/Daily Bruin Senior Staff

Baron Davis, pictured here in Sunday's game against Syracuse, led the Bruins with 17 points and 11 assists in UCLA's 100-61 victory over Washington State Thursday.

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