Monday, March 3, 1997
M.HOOPS:
Composure nets comeback win over Oregon, NCAA tournament berthBy
Emmanuelle Ejercito
Daily Bruin Staff
Three in a row.
The No. 10 UCLA men’s basketball team overcame a 16-point
deficit to claim a 74-67 victory over Oregon, and clinched its
third straight Pac-10 conference championship. With the win, the
Bruins (19-7 overall, 13-3 Pac-10) earned an automatic berth to the
NCAA Tournament.
However, UCLA needed some help in order to clinch, and they got
it. Stanford defeated California earlier in the day, 73-63. So, now
UCLA leads Arizona and USC by two games each with only two games
remaining, and the Bruins retain all tie-breaking advantages due to
season sweeps of both schools.
It was Senior Day on Saturday at Pauley Pavilion, and it was
only fitting that a couple of seniors  Charles O’Bannon and
Cameron Dollar  would take charge.
On his way to a team-high 23 points, O’Bannon converted key
shots like the follow-up of a missed three-pointer by Toby Bailey,
giving UCLA a 65-64 lead. Meanwhile Dollar handed out a season-high
nine assists and snatched three steals.
But what also saved UCLA was its overall composure and
confidence.
UCLA didn’t fold despite a 16-point first-half deficit. Instead,
the Bruins were able to battle back and pull away from Oregon
(16-10, 7-10) in the final two minutes of the game.
"I think that shows you what kind of team we’ve become," Dollar
said. "We were down 16 but everybody was still calm."
Despite the fact that UCLA played its cleanest game of the
season  with only eight turnovers  the Bruins found
themselves trailing early due to the zone defense implemented by
Oregon. UCLA, which is the top shooting team in the nation, could
only connect on 32.4 percent of its shots in the first half.
The Bruins were unable to break the zone down to go inside.
UCLA’s inside men, J.R. Henderson and Jelani McCoy, only attempted
a total of seven shots in the first half. Of the 37 shots attempted
by the Bruins, over half of them were from beyond the three-point
arc.
Oregon made 52 percent of its shots in the first half,
ultimately taking a 29-13 lead with 8:22 remaining before
intermission.
But the Bruins stayed in the game and put together a 7-0 run to
cut the lead to nine.
The roll, however, came to a brief hiatus when Henderson was
called for a technical foul with 4:57 remaining. Upset for getting
called for a foul when he tried to steal the ball from Kyle
Milling, he proceeded to slam the ball down in front of the
referee.
Although it may have seemed like the technical could have
reversed the momentum, the Bruins did not let the call affect
them.
"It’s a real experienced team," Bailey said. "We’ve played in a
national championship game, there’s not much that is going to
rattle us and make us get too upset or worried."
Instead, the Bruins held Oregon scoreless in the last five
minutes and UCLA cut the lead down to three, going into the locker
room behind the three-point shooting of O’Bannon and Brandon
Loyd.
"They came out with a lot of emotion and played well and we
countered that and kept our poise," O’Bannon said. "We were able to
chip down the lead and I think that took a lot out of them.
"When we went on a run ourselves, (Oregon) couldn’t counter the
run."
UCLA was able to break down the Duck zone and find the inside,
as Henderson scored 11 points and McCoy added seven in the second
half. The Bruins improved their shooting clip to 55.6 in the second
half, while the switch by the Bruins to zone defense allowed Oregon
to connect on only 32.4 percent of its second-half shots.
The Bruins went on an 11-3 run in the last 3:39 of the game. A
Bailey slam reminiscent of a dunk against Arkansas in the 1995 NCAA
Championship game capped off the final win on the Pauley floor for
the three seniors  Dollar, Bob Myers and O’Bannon.
"It doesn’t feel like my last one," O’Bannon said. "But I am
sure that I will look back on it and really cherish it."
Although the crowd stormed the court to celebrate the victory
and the Pac-10 championship, no nets were cut down after the
game.
"I’m not into cutting (the net) down for a conference
championship," Dollar said. "I only want one net and one ring and
you all know what that one is."
AARON TOUT
Charles O’Bannon led the Bruins with 23 points in UCLA’s Pac-10
title-clinching victory, his final game at Pauley Pavilion.