SEATTLE “”mdash; A flurry of giveaway rally towels fell from
rafters at the buzzer as UCLA exited the court to a chorus of
boos.
All the hubbub, of course, was no matter to the Bruins. For the
previous two hours, they simply refused to throw in the towel.
Staggered by Washington’s relentless pressure defense,
particularly after junior point guard Cedric Bozeman fouled out
with six minutes to play in regulation, UCLA appeared to be on the
verge of succumbing to the Husky onslaught.
But despite surrendering a double-digit lead with Bozeman
sidelined, the Bruins escaped with their fourth straight conference
victory, an 86-84 overtime thriller Saturday night at Edmundson
Pavilion.
“I’m pretty sure Ced was hurting sitting on that
bench watching them come back,” said junior guard Dijon
Thompson, who made the game-winning free throws with 10.5 seconds
left in overtime. “We definitely needed him out there against
the press. I’m just glad we could get the victory.”
Saddled with foul trouble throughout the game, Bozeman picked up
his fourth and fifth fouls just two seconds apart, the latter a
needless reach-in foul that sidelined him with 6:01 left and UCLA
leading 63-54.
Although the Bruins (8-3, 4-0 Pac-10) did increase their lead to
70-57 with 3:32 remaining, Bozeman’s absence clearly took
them out of their comfort zone. While the 6-foot, 5-inch Bozeman
had little trouble seeing over the top of the Husky full court
pressure, back-up Ryan Walcott could not handle it, nor could he
effectively contain Washington’s dribble penetration.
The frazzled junior committed three turnovers and wilted down
the stretch as Washington forced the game into overtime, closing
the second half with an 18-5 run.
“No question, the turning point in their comeback was us
losing Cedric,” UCLA coach Ben Howland said. “(Walcott)
has to be smarter. I had hoped he would perform a little more
admirably in terms of not turning the ball over.”
What hurt the Bruins even more than their season-high 25
turnovers was their inability to stop Washington’s dribble
penetration. With Bozeman on the bench and injured junior Brian
Morrison still in street clothes, UCLA was without its two best
perimeter defenders, and the Huskies (5-7, 0-4) capitalized.
Washington’s Will Conroy registered a career-high 29
points while fellow guards Nate Robinson and Brandon Roy finished
with 18 and 16, respectively. Neither Walcott nor reserve Janou
Rubin could keep up with the lightning-quick Husky guards, much
less impede their path to the basket.
Howland said he even considered implementing a zone defense to
try to contain Conroy, but ultimately stuck with man-to-man.
“They just kept hurting us off the dribble,” Howland
said. “That was the key. We couldn’t stop them from
penetrating by us. How many times are they going to do it before we
figure out they’re driving every single time?”
The Husky back court continued to infiltrate the UCLA defense
all the way to the final possession. After the two Thompson free
throws made it 86-84, Conroy blew by the UCLA defense but could not
convert a running 5-footer over the 7-foot Ryan Hollins that would
have extended the game to double overtime.
Washington had one last chance, but Roy’s tip-in attempt
at the buzzer fell short.
Senior T.J. Cummings led the Bruins with 22 points, and freshman
Trevor Ariza tallied 21.
Bozeman had eight points and eight assists before fouling out,
and a relieved grin after the game.
“Not being able to be out there was hard,” Bozeman
said. “You can’t do anything from the bench. It feels
really good knowing my teammates had the character to pull out a
win without me.”