O’Bannon latest in line of Bruin heroes
By Scott Yamaguchi
Daily Bruin Staff
In what has become a positive trend through the first half of
its 1996 schedule, the UCLA men’s basketball team relied on yet
another player to elevate the team to victory.
This time it was Charles O’Bannon, who notched the 12th
double-double of his career with 13 rebounds and a career-high 27
points in leading the Bruins to a 99-72 pasting of USC Wednesday
night at Pauley Pavilion.
"Charles O’Bannon had the kind of game that we talk about, he
and I," UCLA head coach Jim Harrick said. "Throughout the course of
his junior year and senior year, this is the kind of game that I’ve
come to expect. He really dominated the game."
Averaging 14.8 points and 6.6 rebounds per game, O’Bannon had
led the team in scoring three times before Wednesday and might well
be its most consistent performer.
Unlike his fellow starters, however, he hadn’t yet played the
game of his life.
Freshman center Jelani McCoy had the best game of his short
career Dec. 9 when he recorded UCLA’s first ever triple-double with
15 points, 11 blocked shots and 10 rebounds in a win over Maryland.
Sophomore guard Toby Bailey followed that up with a 23-point,
10-rebound, 10-assist showing one week later in the Bruins’ win
over Stephen F. Austin.
Sophomore forward J.R. Henderson scored a career-high 29 points
in a win at Washington State three weeks ago, and sophomore guard
Kris Johnson had his 36-point outing against Cal the following
week.
But O’Bannon, who was the top returning scorer from last year’s
NCAA championship team, had not yet exploded.
Not until Wednesday, that is.
"I wasn’t coming into the game trying to force anything, trying
to make it my game," O’Bannon said. "I just played, played the best
I could. My guys found me in open spots and I just tried to
finish."
And he finished well. By halftime, the pre-season All-American
had 18 points on eight-for-eight shooting, including two three
pointers. He also finished the game with a team-high seven assists,
and it was his alley-oop pass to Bailey that sparked the Bruins on
an 18-1 scoring run with seven minutes left in the first half.
O’Bannon had eight points in that run, from which the Trojans
never recovered.
"Charles played very well, particularly in the first half," USC
head coach Charlie Parker said. "He looked like he was on a mission
to prove something,"
In the second half, Parker switched defensive specialist Stais
Boseman from Bailey to O’Bannon, and O’Bannon scored just two more
points before leaving the game with 8:49 to go.
"In games past, we’ve handled Charles pretty well with Stais,
but Stais was guarding Bailey," Parker said. "I wish I had five
Staises, maybe it would have made it a much better game. In the
second half, I rotated Stais onto Charles, and up until the end I
thought Stais was controlling him pretty well."
But Parker must have forgotten about the last four minutes of
the game, when O’Bannon was subbed back in and scored seven quick
points.
The first of those points came on a thundering tomahawk dunk,
the next two on a pair of free throws, and the last on a 24-foot
three pointer from the left corner.
When all was said and done, O’Bannon had made 11 of his 14
shots, including all three of his three-point attempts.
"Everybody’s been waiting for that," Henderson said. "I think he
was very happy with it, and I think that’s why coach left him in
until the end.
"He was way overdue."Comments to
webmaster@db.asucla.ucla.edu