WASHINGTON “”mdash; Like an eligible bachelor on the eve of
Valentine’s Day, UCLA had gone up and down the West Coast in
search of the perfect mate.
At times, and especially over the last few Pac-10 games, it
looked like the Bruins might finally have found the team of their
dreams: a squad capable of allowing them to reverse roles for just
one game.
But a missed three-pointer here, or an ill-advised foul there,
and opponents managed to pull out late-game wins. UCLA and winning
just weren’t compatible.
It turns out the Bruins were looking in the wrong place all
along. It took a 2,500-mile flight all the way to the
nation’s capital to find a lackluster Georgetown team to end
the most miserable stretch of UCLA basketball since 1938-1939.
“Nine-game losing streak?” sophomore Ryan Walcott
asked rhetorically. “Snapped.”
Most of the other UCLA players echoed Walcott’s
sentiments, though they did so with a little less bravado.
“It’s really been a long time since we’ve
won,” senior Jason Kapono said. “I don’t really
have quotes for when we win. I’m kind of lost for
words.”
During the latter part of the nine-game skid, it had looked like
the Bruins were lost for execution. Four of the previous five games
had seen UCLA holding the ball with a chance to either tie or win.
The Bruins only shot in two of those games, and both times, they
missed.
Senior Ray Young saw it as a matter of simply catching a
break.
“We’ve been rolling the dice at the end of games
like we’re in Vegas,” he said. “And you figure
you’re going to get a seven some time.”
Actually, they got two, as in two Cedric Bozeman free throws.
Instead of fading away along with the last few seconds of the
clock, the Bruins dug in their heels and their point guard beat the
odds by draining a pair from the charity stripe.
Georgetown was hardly Arizona, though, and is suffering through
a five-game losing streak of its own. In this the strangest of
seasons, Saturday’s victory has little tangible meaning
because it came out of conference.
But at this point, beggars aren’t exactly choosers.
“The important thing is that the kids were rewarded for
maintaining such a good attitude,” UCLA head coach Steve
Lavin said. “Their spirits have always been up and alive
during a difficult season, and that’s what’s going to
last a lifetime.”
Now they fly back west, perhaps with a small amount of swagger
after finally meeting the ideal opponent ““ one they
defeated.
“The plane ride home will be fun,” Walcott said.
“Instead of everyone being quiet, we’ll all be
talking.”