Over the last few seasons the UCLA men’s basketball team
has upset national No. 1 teams from Stanford to Kansas, while at
the same time handed victories to unranked schools like Cal State
Northridge, Arizona State, and yesterday, Northern Arizona.
The 67-63 loss to the Lumberjacks saw UCLA give away another
win, unable even to muster a late-game comeback to save it.
“It’s just one of those days we didn’t
click,” senior forward Jason Kapono said. “We knew they
were a good solid team, but we didn’t step up to the
challenge.”
Led by Kapono, the Bruins tried to step up, but in the end
couldn’t pull it out.
With 2:37 left in the game and UCLA down six points, Kapono sank
a 22-foot
three point shot to give the team some hope.
But the Bruins’ go-to guy would not see the ball again until 34
seconds remained in the game. Instead sophomore guard Dijon
Thompson rushed a three pointer and missed, and junior forward T.J.
Cummings put up a couple of low-post bank shots.
“In the end I was going all out and it wasn’t
enough,” Cummings said. “We
couldn’t get in our rhythm.”
The Lumberjacks certainly were not going to give up their lead
either, and countered every Bruin make in the last three minutes
with a field goal or a free throw of their own.
It came down to one last shot. The Bruins admitted after the
game that they should never have been in that situation in the
first place, but were looking for their clutch shooter again down
the stretch.
“I didn’t want to give Jason Kapono the ball at the
end of the game,” Northern Arizona head coach Mike Adras
said.
But there was the ball in his hands, with an open look at the
basket and his team down three points. But Kapono missed and the
game was over.
After its only opportunity to get back in the game, UCLA could
not steal the ball and free throws were given to Northern
Arizona.
Loss or not, it was clear that Kapono was going to take the shot
at the end of the game.
“I definitely will take it 20 more times,” he said.
“It’s upsetting that I missed it but all day, every
day, I’ll take the blame if I miss.”
His teammates were happy with him taking the last shot.
“If I’m in Vegas, I’ll bet on that shot every
time,” senior guard Ray Young said.
Kapono also missed a game winning opportunity in a loss to
unranked San Diego in UCLA’s season opener.
UCLA knows it can’t put the game on Kapono’s shoulders with the
final buzzer approaching, but with many more games ahead, the
likelihood of history repeating itself is high.
And Kapono will take the shot – against Northern Arizona, or a
team like No. 19 Kansas which the Bruins face Saturday – but he
will have to make it to give his team a win.