NEW YORK “”mdash; After UCLA’s Jordan Farmar made a free
throw with 0.8 seconds left to give his team a one-point lead, he
struck a pose for the cameras, holding only one finger high in the
air.
Airballing the previous free throw was a first for Farmar.
So was the manner in which the Bruins escaped with a 57-56
victory over Drexel in the consolation game of the NIT Season
Tip-Off Friday night at Madison Square Garden.
With the score tied 56-56 with 6.8 seconds remaining, the
Dragons’ Chaz Crawford fired a bullet inbounds-pass which was
too hot for teammate Bashir Mason to handle, as he fumbled it out
of bounds.
That gave the Bruins one last opportunity to claim what they had
been without much of the second half ““ the lead.
The ball went to Farmar, who dribbled to his left and was
slapped across the arm going up for a shot with less than a second
remaining.
One of UCLA’s best free-throw shooters at a near 80
percent clip, Farmar found nothing but air on his first attempt,
prompting an irremovable grin to appear on the sophomore point
guard’s face.
“It felt good, it was just a little short,” said
Farmar, who was still smiling about the free throw well after the
game. “I’ve never airballed a free throw in a game in
my life. I don’t think I’ve ever done it in practice
either. There’s a first for everything.
“I’ve seen it happen before, so it was pretty funny
to me.”
It was also funny to his teammates, who shared in Farmar’s
amusement from the bench, perhaps because they knew their point
guard still had another chance to give UCLA the lead.
On Farmar’s second free throw, this time the sophomore
found the rim, twice in fact, before the ball dropped through the
net to preserve the unlikeliest of Bruin victories.
“I never thought it would happen to me,” said
Farmar, who was only one for 10 from the floor and finished with a
season-low six points.
“But I calmed down after that. I know I’m a good
free-throw shooter. And fortunately, I had another one
coming.”
Though Farmar iced the game for UCLA (4-1), it was his teammate
Arron Afflalo who kept the Bruins within striking range of Drexel
(3-2).
Afflalo scored 11 of his game-high 18 points in the second half,
which included three 3-pointers, the last of which pulled the
Bruins to within two points with nearly two minutes remaining after
his team trailed by as many as seven.
Then after UCLA failed to capitalize on three opportunities to
tie or take the lead with under a minute remaining, Afflalo was
fouled on a long 3-point attempt with only 6.8 seconds remaining,
where he made two of three from the charity stripe to set up
Farmar’s game-winning free throw.
Though neither team made a field goal in the game’s final
two minutes, UCLA coach Ben Howland was still impressed his team
found a way to pull out a victory, even if it was via alternative
means.
“I thought our guys showed a lot of toughness late in the
game to be able to just hang in there and make a couple of key
plays, and both of those plays were fouls,” Howland said.
“They were easily the right call. You feel for (Drexel
coach James “Bruiser” Flint) because at the other end
you’re cringing your feet why would they foul on either one
of those plays.
The win ensured UCLA wouldn’t be the only team in the
tournament to fly out of New York without a victory.
Yet it also exposed exactly what the Bruins have to work on when
they fly back home Saturday and prepare for Albany on Tuesday night
at Pauley Pavilion.
“We have to get back to practice, which we’re going
to do on Sunday and Monday to get ready for Tuesday’s
game,” Howland said. “We’ve just got to get
better at executing at both ends.”