The holiday rust seemed to be building up on the Bruins’
shoulders for the entire game.
Balls fumbled out of bounds. Lay-ups missed from point-blank
range. Free throws clanked. Added to the list was UCLA’s
inability to shutdown Wagner’s guards and Wednesday
night’s game had all the signs of a holiday scare for the
Bruins.
But with just under a minute to go and the game all tied up,
sophomore point guard Jordan Farmar dusted the Bruins’
shoulders off as he flicked the ball over two Seahawk defenders and
found freshman forward Luc Richard Mbah a Moute open under the net
for the game-winning basket as UCLA held on to beat Wagner
74-72.
“I’m glad we got the win because that’s a
tough, hard-nosed team that was very determined to beat us on our
home court,” UCLA coach Ben Howland said. “We were
fortunate to come out on top.”
Farmar, who had a game-high nine assists Wednesday night,
attributed the No. 12 Bruins’ (9-1) slow start in both
quarters because of last Saturday’s trip to Michigan.
“They came out to play and we looked sluggish,” said
Farmar, whose team trailed by eight points twice, once in the first
and the other in the second half. “Playing early and playing
late after just traveling, it was just messing us up.
“There’s going to be days like that. We just have to
play tough and show our character like we did tonight and come out
with the win.”
UCLA did wake up in the final seconds as Wagner (6-2) had a
chance to tie or win the game with 14.6 seconds remaining in the
game. The Bruins extended their defense, knowing they could play
aggressive defense because they had three fouls to give before
going into the penalty. Because of that, Wagner was pushed well
beyond the three-point line and didn’t even get a shot off as
the buzzer sounded.
“We really tried to pressure them and it was a great sign
for our kids down the stretch to know how to win a close
game,” said Howland who has UCLA off to its best start since
the 1997-1998 season.
Neither team played defense. The Bruins shot 52.5 percent from
the field and Wagner bested them with 53.8 percent for the game.
Seahawk sophomore Mark Porter torched the Bruins for a game-high 19
points. But, what kept Wagner in the game was shooting 10 of 16
from beyond the arc.
On the flip side, UCLA struggled mightily from three, making
just 1 of 13 attempts. So on a night where the Bruins, who lead the
Pac-10 in 3-pointers made with seven per game, couldn’t buy a
trey, they had to scrape for points.
The play of both freshman Darren Collison and sophomore Lorenzo
Mata kept UCLA in the game.
Trailing 59-57, UCLA crawled back into the game with just 7:38
to play in large part because of Collison. The guard scored six
points down the stretch and had a half-court alley-oop pass for an
assist to center Ryan Hollins who flushed it down with two hands to
give the Bruins a 66-65 lead. Collison had 12 points and equaled
his career high of five assists.
“Wagner couldn’t handle our guards. We were way
better than them,” he said. “They weren’t hedging
me on the ball screens and I just took advantage of it.”
Collison attributed the Bruins’ victory to maturity and
knowing not to settle for threes.
With 2:56 remaining, UCLA’s Aaron Afflalo passed up on a
three-point attempt. Senior Cedric Bozeman pump-faked on the three
and drove it to the basket and got fouled. He made both free throw
attempts to give UCLA a 70-68 lead.
“It’s going to happen, we’re going to have
games where we’re not going to make (a three) and that is why
we have to take it to the basket,” Collison said. “We
had to take it to the rack. Try to get fouled do something. The
three-point line was something that we had to get away from
(tonight).”
Mata, who had flu-like symptoms that kept him out of practice,
kept the Bruins afloat in the first half. The center had a
career-high 11 points in 15 minutes of play. His points came on all
hustle plays. Mata snagged five rebounds in the first half, four of
which were on the offensive end. UCLA finished with 13 offensive
rebounds to Wagner’s six.
DRIBBLERS: The Bruins have found little
contribution when it comes to their starting center. Freshman Ryan
Wright, who has been the only starter to score in six games,
struggled early, missing all four of his free throw attempts, which
prompted Howland to put in Mata. Wright wound up with two points.
“¦ UCLA went 9-for-18 from the charity stripe. “¦ 7,738
were on hand Wednesday night. “¦ UCLA guard Lisa Willis was
honored during halftime after helping Team USA win gold this past
summer. The senior scored 13 points in the gold medal game over
Serbia and Montenegro.