Monday, March 10, 1997
M. HOOPS:
Last-second layup quashes Cougars’ hopes of upset victoryBy Hye
Kwon
Daily Bruin Staff
PULLMAN, Wash. — A little bit of March Madness showed itself
prematurely Saturday afternoon.
Cameron Dollar did his best rendition of Tyus Edney’s famous
shot of nearly two years ago, which enabled No. 9 UCLA to escape
with a 87-86 win over Washington State in Friel Coliseum.
With 4.5 seconds remaining on the clock and trailing by a single
point, the Bruins (21-7, 15-3 in conference play) inbounded the
ball to Charles O’Bannon, who made a lateral pass to Dollar at half
court. The senior guard then blew past defenders and hit the
driving layup, getting fouled in the process.
Dollar’s shot silenced the crowd of 7,926, which was ready to
celebrate a huge upset victory to cap the Cougars’ season, and
sealed UCLA’s ninth straight win heading into this week’s NCAA
Tournament.
"The plan was to (inbound) to me, but they cut me off and I
couldn’t get it," Dollar, who had just seconds prior tied the score
at 84-84 with a similar layin, said. "It ended up being a pretty
nice play though. We should have drawn that one up.
"The weird thing is, when you make these shots, you don’t have
time to think about it. You just kind of do it and later on you
say, ‘Man, I made that, eh?’ I guess this (shot) is up there with
the Washington shot (last season)."
"We knew we weren’t going to have time to pass it around, so
whoever got the ball had to go to the basket and that’s what
Cameron did," said Toby Bailey, who made a key steal with 27
seconds remaining and went 1-for-2 at the free-throw line to put
UCLA up 85-84. "He hit that extra gear and got to the hole."
Prior to Dollar’s last-second heroics, the front-line tandem of
O’Bannon and J.R. Henderson was coming up the biggest for the
Bruins. O’Bannon, who was selected to the All Pacific 10 First Team
just before the game, finished with 19 points and 11 rebounds,
while Henderson ended with 21 points and six boards.
Throughout the second half, Washington State ran an efficient
motion offense that allowed the Cougars to maintain an 84-79 edge
heading into the last two minutes of the game. Isaac Fontaine, who
tallied 33 points in his last game at Washington State (13-17,
5-13), repeatedly worked off of picks to find himself open for
jumpers.
But with 1:54 remaining in the game, Wazzu forward Carlos Daniel
was called for an intentional foul on Henderson, turning the tide
in UCLA’s favor.
"I tried to jump but he wasn’t going for the ball," Henderson
said. "I guess the officials saw what I saw and made the right
call."
The Cougars managed to record just two more points thereafter,
coming on a pair of free throws from Fontaine just prior to
Dollar’s game-ending drive.
With the victory over Washington State, the Bruins were able to
continue their momentum heading into the NCAA Tournament.
"This game reflected our players’ ability to do so well under
adverse conditions," UCLA head coach Steve Lavin said. "Like a
snowball, it’s rolling down the hill right now. It’s picking up
momentum as it goes.
"We’re just playing good basketball as a team. No matter how
people look at us, we’re doing well in all the variables."
UCLA 87,
Washington State 86
WYNN RUJIRAVIRIYAPINYO
Bruin teammates share their moment of victory over the
Cougars.