UCLA
USC
No. 16 UCLA Escapes with a Win over USC
June 21, 1999 | Men's Basketball
February 17, 1999
By BETH HARRIS
AP Sports Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) - With one of their big men out and the other hobbled, the suddenly diminutive UCLA Bruins needed everyone crashing the boards.
No one did it better than freshman JaRon Rush, who had 15 points and 10 rebounds in the 16th-ranked Bruins' 68-63 victory over Southern California on Wednesday night.
"We tried to keep at it because that's one thing we thought we could come in and do, outrebound this team," said Rush, whose second double-double of the season helped the Bruins control the boards 40-35.
"I put that on myself to come in and rebound and try to take up for the other guys," Rush said. "You just had to play for position."
Jerome Moiso and Dan Gadzuric, UCLA's 6-foot-10 1/2 freshmen, have been bothered by nagging injuries in recent weeks. Moiso sat out with sore arches, although he said he'll likely play Sunday against No. 21 Syracuse. Gadzuric, who has tendinitis in both knees, played 18 minutes, but had just four points and three rebounds.
"We wanted to go inside, we didn't think they were big in there and we thought we could take advantage of them," said USC coach Henry Bibby, who fell to 0-7 against his alma mater. "They didn't play Gadzuric in there a long time, so we wanted to go inside. We just didn't get them the basketball and we didn't get on the block to get the basketball, and that hurts you."
In the frantic final minutes, though, the Bruins went to Baron Davis, who's repeatedly rescued them in the clutch this season.
With the Bruins ahead by two, Davis scored on a 15-foot fadeaway that hit the backboard before going in with 36 seconds remaining. He finished with 17 points, despite playing with stomach flu.
"Not feeling too well, I knew it was going to be a long ballgame," he said. "It was a battle, who was going to stop who."
The Bruins (18-7, 9-5 Pac-10) snapped a two-game losing streak and won their 10th straight over the crosstown rival Trojans (12-11, 4-10), who were coming off an overtime upset of then-No. 6 Stanford.
"We need a win anytime," said Davis, who scored 50 points in UCLA's losses to the San Francisco Bay area schools last weekend. "This definitely revitalizes us."
Brian Scalabrine led the Trojans with 20 points. He scored their first six points of the second half, but was shut out over the final 15 minutes.
"We played well with them for most of the game, but they really crashed the boards at the end of the game," Scalabrine said. "We gave them way too many second and third tries on their offensive boards."
Sam Clancy of the Trojans scored inside on a putback to tie the game at 61 with 3:48 remaining.
Rush scored and later made one of two free throws to put the Bruins back in front 64-61 with 2:18 left. USC had trouble at its end, missing three times on one possession and then a basket by Scalabrine was nullified on a traveling call.
The Bruins had four tries on their next possession and missed, but Earl Watson was fouled and made one free throw to keep UCLA ahead 65-61 with 1:12 remaining.
Brandon Granville hit two free throws - his only points of the game - to draw USC within two with 1:10 left.
Then Davis hit the 15-foot fadeaway that hit the backboard before going in with three seconds left on the shot clock and UCLA led 67-63. Ray Young added a free throw to equal the largest lead of the second half for the Bruins, who finished 12-of-26 from the foul line.
Jeff Trepagnier and Adam Spanich missed long-range attempts in the final 30 seconds for the Trojans.
"The problem was we didn't get a whole team effort," said Elias Ayuso, who had three of USC's five 3-pointers. "It's hard to believe all of us didn't get up to play against our biggest rival."
