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  MIKE CHIEN Senior forward Matt Barnes attempts to whip around an Oregon State defender, in the Bruins' close win over the Beavers last night. UCLA 65 Oregon State 57

By Dylan Hernandez

Daily Bruin Senior Staff

They played beautifully in the first half, then collapsed.

Perhaps it was that the Bruins stopped running their motion offense, abandoning it 10 minutes or so into the game in favor of shaving time off the clock.

Or that they were looking ahead to Saturday’s regular-season finale against No. 13 Oregon.

Or that they were feeling a let-down after their big win at Stanford last Saturday.

Or...?

“I don’t know,” UCLA head coach Steve Lavin said, sighing. “The orange uniforms?”

Whatever the distraction or tactical error was, the UCLA men’s basketball team (19-9, 11-6 Pac-10) overcame it and downed the orange-clad Oregon State Beavers (12-16, 4-13) 65-57 in front of 8,959 fans Thursday night at Pauley Pavilion.

UCLA, which led 37-29 at half and by as many as 11 early in the second half, had their advantage clipped to 57-55 with four minutes and seven seconds to go.

“I felt we were flat, a step slow,” Lavin said. “We were off our game on both ends of the floor.”

How UCLA played so poorly in the second half and still registered a win was something of a mystery.

It could very well have been that OSU was that bad, a theory which has countless statistics and observations to support it.

The short, pudgy and talentless Beavers shouldn’t have had any hope of keeping up. OSU point guard Brandon Payton inherited the heart of his NBA star half-brother, Gary, but not his talent. Payton, who scored 12 points, shot poorly, going 3-of-11 from the floor.

Beaver forward Brian Jackson scored 13 points, but couldn’t guard Bruins Jason Kapono and Matt Barnes when it mattered most.

Jackson’s frontcourt mate, roundish Phillip Ricci, paced his squad with 13 points and 10 rebounds, but was disturbingly clumsy. He repeatedly tripped over his own feet, looking as if he had consumed an entire keg of Pabst beer by himself prior to the game.

However limited OSU was, UCLA looked solid by almost any standard in the opening period.

The conductor of the Bruin symphony – cohesive, melodic, even artistic before its meltdown – was freshman point guard Cedric Bozeman, who recorded eight assists to tie his season high.

Bozeman was particularly effective when UCLA ran its motion offense, as he was given room to operate. He consistently found a way to get the ball to the free man, whether it be Billy Knight in the left corner or Barnes at the top of the key.

“I felt good making plays, getting people involved,” Bozeman said. “Everybody seemed to be in perfect rhythm.”

OSU, according to Beaver head coach Ritchie McKay, wanted to take Bruin center Dan Gadzuric out of the game. The Beavers often double- and triple-teamed Gadzuric, whom they held to four points in the first half. But their tactics were foiled by Bozeman.

“It was Cedric Bozeman’s ability to hit the open man that hurt us,” said McKay, whose team trailed 18-7 after only six minutes of play.

But at some point before the halftime intermission, UCLA altered its strategy.

“You saw us slow the game down,” senior reserve guard Rico Hines said. “We would run our fake motion, where we’re moving around but not looking to score and just running down the shot clock.”

The slowdown resulted in the final score being closer than expected, but McKay was nonetheless impressed with the Bruins.

“If (Gadruzic) doesn’t foul out, they can beat anyone, except maybe Duke and Maryland, and I don’t even know if that’s true,” said McKay, whose squad was officially eliminated from the Pac-10 Tournament with the loss.

Barnes led UCLA with 14 points. Knight and Kapono added 13 and 11 points, respectively. Gadzuric had only six points but grabbed a team-high nine rebounds.