SEATTLE “”mdash; Down five points after another furious
second-half rally, UCLA’s Arron Afflalo glanced at the
scoreboard at Washington’s Hec Edmundson Pavilion and
smiled.
Nothing to worry about, Afflalo thought. Coming from behind,
after all, has been a Bruin forte recently, especially in key
conference games.
But with the chance to secure its most significant win of the
season, UCLA never could close the gap any further. The deficit
instead ballooned to double digits as the 12th-ranked Huskies
stifled the comeback with their defensive pressure and dynamic
forays to the offensive glass, nailing down an 82-70 victory.
“That was right about the time in the game where we
usually make a stand,” Afflalo said. “Their run broke
our backs a little bit. At an opponent’s house, especially
the 12th-ranked team in the nation, it’s hard to bounce
back.”
Overcoming a 15-point deficit would have been nothing new for
the Bruins, who already boast a victory over the Huskies at Pauley
Pavilion this year when they dug themselves out of a 21-point
first-half hole.
Still, UCLA (12-7, 6-5 Pac-10), which remains tied with Stanford
for third in the conference, could not be too disappointed with the
loss. Thursday night’s overtime victory over Washington State
ensured that the Bruins would leave the Northwest with their pride
and their NCAA Tournament hopes still intact.
“We got a win on the trip,” said senior Dijon
Thompson, who led UCLA with 22 points. “It would have been a
good opportunity if we had won this game, but I think we’re
still in good position.”
That the Bruins were within striking distance late in the game
is a credit to their defense because Washington attempted 22 more
shots than they did.
The high-flying Huskies sent four and five players to the rim
after every miss, tallying 16 second-chance points and attacking
the offensive glass with a ferocity UCLA simply could not match. On
defense, Washington was also the aggressor, playing 94 feet of
belly button-to-belly button defense and forcing the run-and-gun
Bruins to play at a pace that even they couldn’t manage.
“There were two obvious stats of the game,” UCLA
Coach Ben Howland said. “We allowed 22 offensive rebounds
““ they killed us there. And 23 turnovers. Turnovers have
plagued us all year.”
The Bruins, nevertheless, rallied as they have done so many
times this season. After Washington built its biggest lead of the
game at 62-47, UCLA strung together an 11-0 run capped by a Josh
Shipp 3-pointer and a pair of Brian Morrison free throws with 7:24
remaining. For the first time, the Huskies showed signs of
cracking.
But feeding off the energy from their 10,000 screaming fans,
Washington made a stand. First guard Tre Simmons buried a 3-pointer
from the right corner. Then after the Bruins pulled to within five
at 67-62, junior Brandon Roy took over.
Roy, who led the Huskies with 20 points and 13 rebounds, knifed
to the basket, drew a foul from Afflalo, and sank a pair of free
throws. On the ensuing possession, he came out of nowhere to stuff
UCLA’s Jordan Farmar, who had snuck behind the defense and
appeared to have a wide-open layup.
Corralling the rebound, Roy started a fast break the other way,
hitting Bobby Jones for a 3-pointer from the left wing, and in a
span of 40 seconds the lead was 72-62.
“It’s always difficult to come back on the
road,” Thompson said. “It happened to them the last
time, and it happened to us here. They were never really rattled,
and maybe the crowd got to us a little bit.”
The loss, UCLA’s first against the Huskies in their last
eight regular season meetings, left the Bruins feeling like they
had missed an opportunity.
“We had a good chance to win,” junior Michael Fey
said.
This time they simply couldn’t finish the comeback.