Friday, January 17, 1997
M. HOOPS:
Jelani McCoy leads team with 15 points, 15 reboundsBy Emmanuelle
Ejercito
Daily Bruin Staff
With Kris Johnson sitting on the bench for the whole game due to
a minor ankle injury, UCLA men’s basketball was without one of its
scoring weapons against Arizona State. But in the end it didn’t
matter as the Bruins defeated the Sun Devils, 79-62, Thursday night
at Pauley Pavilion.
Making up for the absence of Johnson was sophomore center Jelani
McCoy who recorded his second double-double of the season. McCoy
dominated the boards, grabbing a career-tying 15. In the first half
alone, McCoy grabbed nine rebounds which was one more than the
entire ASU team (9-7 overall, 1-3 Pacific-10).
"(McCoy) is just such a dominating force in there," ASU head
coach Bill Frieder said. "He’s just so much bigger and stronger
than anybody that we have."
To add to his 15 rebounds, McCoy also tallied 15 points, five
assists and was three for three from the charity line.
"When one person goes down, another person has to step up,"
McCoy said. "You have to play a little harder and put in a little
more effort. I just felt that I had to go out there and get
rebounds."
However the game wasn’t a total smooth sail from the get-go. The
Bruins (9-4, 4-1) committed four straight turnovers in the first
two minutes allowing the Sun Devils to jump to a 7-0 lead. But
after Lavin called a 20-second timeout, UCLA calmed down and took
control, ending the first half with a 9-2 run to go into the
intermission with a 13-point lead.
The Bruins sealed the game with a 12-0 run halfway through the
second half.
UCLA was led in scoring by Toby Bailey, Charles O’Bannon and
J.R. Henderson with 17 points each. Bailey, who went 0-for-5 from
three-point territory against California last Saturday, found his
shot, connecting on five three-pointers.
"McCoy’s unselfishness and his interior passing … opened
things up for Bailey," UCLA head coach Steve Lavin said. "Now we’re
getting good looks at the basket because we are stepping into our
shots and we are going to shoot a high percentage from the
three-point line if we get that."
JUSTIN WARREN/Daily Bruin
Jelani McCoy was named player of the game against Arizona
State.