By Christina Teller
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
PITTSBURGH, Pa - The UCLA Bruins never stopped chugging along. Not when Cincinnati stretched its lead to seven for the umpteenth time. Not when Jason Kapono was whistled for his fourth foul with 11:45 left in the second half. And certainly not when Cedric Bozeman crumpled to the floor with 2:30 to go in the second overtime. The scrappy eighth-seeded Bruins (21-11) fought to a 105-101 double-overtime victory over No. 1-seeded Cincinnati (31-3) in front of a nearly full house at Mellon Arena.
"It was just a great college basketball game," UCLA head coach Steve Lavin said. "The situation where you hate to see either of these teams lose."
The Bruins' engine was fueled by confidence, and their heads never hung thanks to their ace-bandaged and sidelined senior leader Rico Hines. "Rico was yelling through the whole game," Dijon Thompson said. "He said, 'This isn't the way we want to go out.'"
Sunday's game had UCLA written all over it. It was the standard David vs. Goliath showdown, and the Bruins couldn't wait to get their paws all over it.
"We knew coming into the game that we were supposed to win," Thompson said. "We know we're a better team. We know we have a lot of talent. They have some good players, but we knew we could win this game."
The game itself was a microcosm of the Bruins' season, They played the first half without much spark, falling behind by as many as 13, and then slowly but surely found a way out of the hole to emerge as giant-killers.
With the Bruin defense over-aggressively defending Conference USA Player of the Year Steve Logan in the first half, the seams opened up allowing the Bearcats to take over the paint. Cincinnati dominated the glass in the first half, and made the contest look a like a volleyball game, taking advantage of 13 offensive rebounds for 17 points. But the Bruins wouldn't give in.
"At half-time, I told the guys to fight back. We weren't going to go out like that," Hines said. "Dan did that. He went down low and showed he's the best center in the country."
Dan Gadzuric had a clear advantage inside in the first half, going for 16 points and six rebounds in the first period. He further exploited his size and stature for 10 more points and seven rebounds in the final 30 minutes of play.
"Dan just played like a monster," Kapono said. "He was a dinosaur out there. He played extremely well."
UCLA took two steps forward and one back for the first 11 minutes of the first half and couldn't seem to avoid the return of a six-point deficit. But with 8:49 left in regulation, Matt Barnes took matters into his own hands, hitting two three-pointers in a span of 15 seconds and bringing the Bruins to within three at 65-62. UCLA had been knocking on Cincinnati's door through the whole game, and finally Cincinnati couldn't restrain the Bruins anymore.
UCLA took its first lead since the beginning of the game thanks to Kapono's six points in back to back possessions, the second trio coming in a three-point play with 4:22 on the clock, putting UCLA ahead at 74-73. The second half ended in an 80-80 tie, sending the game into overtime number one. Cincinnati won the game's second-half tip-off, but on their first possession, Gadzuric blocked a lay-up attempt, resulting in a jump ball and a UCLA possession. The Bruins won the opening tip in the second overtime, and by that time it was clear that Mr. Mo Mentum had changed jerseys. The Bruins went on a 7-4 run to open the second overtime, capped by Knight's bucket and a foul with 1:27 to go.
"Dan tipped it, and it came right to me, "Knight said. "I thought the refs weren't going to call it so I went up strong. We've been in games like this before. We fought back and believed in ourselves."
The Bruin bench and a season-low nine turnovers were the game-winning intangibles.
"I think (UCLA's bench) did make a difference, especially since we went into double overtime," Cincinnati head coach Bob Huggins said. "In the second overtime, we got a little tired - we don't have enough people."
Bozeman and Dijon Thompson played with a confident swagger Sunday. Bozeman was unafraid to drive through traffic, finishing with eight points, while Thompson found his groove with mid-range jumpers and totaled 10 points on the night. Barnes (17), Gadzuric (26), Knight (12) and Kapono (19) joined Thompson in double figures. Gadzuric's 26 was a season high.
NOTES: The Bruins advance to their fifth Sweet Sixteen in six years and will face Missouri on Thursday in San Jose. Lavin and Duke head coach Mike Kryzewski are the only active head coaches to accomplish this feat. ... Hines, who left the game late in the first half, suffered a strained left knee and will get an MRI on Monday. ... Bozeman tweaked his ankle in Sunday's game but is definite for Thursday's game. ... Lavin is 10-2 in overtime in his career. ... Sunday's game was the first double overtime tournament game for the Bruins since 1974, Bill Walton's senior year.