UCLA
Oregon
Bruins Squeak Past Oregon
June 21, 1999 | Men's Basketball
January 9, 1999
EUGENE, Ore. - Baron Davis took care of UCLA's sudden shooting woes all by himself - until his last shot, that is.
Davis scored 22 points and Dan Gadzuric's put-back with 1:30 left lifted UCLA past Oregon 65-63 Saturday night.
"We just found a way to keep it close," Davis said. "Down the stretch, we think we can beat anybody."
The Bruins (11-3, 3-1 Pac-10) couldn't hit anything Thursday night against Oregon State and were upset 65-63, ending their eight-game winning streak. This time they played far better, but still nearly let it slip away against the Ducks (9-4, 1-3).
It was 65-63 when UCLA's JaRon Rush went to the foul line with 7.5 seconds left. He missed the front end of a one-and-one, and Davis got the rebound. But instead of holding the ball or passing it, he shot an airball.
"I thought I could put it up to waste time, but I almost gave coach a heart attack," said Davis, whose 22 points tied a career high set against Alabama-Birmingham last season.
Oregon's Alex Scales grabbed the loose ball with under three seconds to go and got past halfcourt, but UCLA's Earl Watson stripped the ball away before he could get off a shot.
The sellout crowd of 9,087 wanted a foul, but the play stood.
Davis was 8-of-13 from the field after a 6-for-19 night against the Beavers. He also had five of the Bruins' season-low nine turnovers.
UCLA is 67-17 overall against Oregon, but the Ducks had won the last two at home over the Bruins and four of five at McArthur Court. UCLA narrowly avoided losing on the road at both Oregon State and Oregon for the first time since 1984.
"If you look around the conference, you will see all kinds of crazy scores," UCLA coach Steve Lavin said. "I think this is the wildest, craziest Pac-10 Conference I have ever seen."
Only minutes before tip-off, No. 8 Arizona scored in the final seconds to beat Washington.
A.D. Smith scored 16 points and Scales and Frederick Jones each had 14 for the Ducks, who lost to Southern California on Thursday night on a half-court shot by Adam Spanich as time ran out.
"I think both teams had hangovers, but I won't use that as an excuse," Smith said. "We have to be stronger than that. Coming in, we didn't think it was a game we could win, but a game we should win. Baron Davis did a great job of running the show for them."
The Bruins shot 46 percent, compared with a season-worst 28 percent in the loss to Oregon State. UCLA made 2-of-13 3-pointers after hitting only 4-of-27 Thursday night.
Jerome Moiso scored 10 of his 14 points in the second half and hit several key baskets inside for Oregon.
Oregon hit 10 of its 24 3-pointers.
"We've got some good 3-point shooters, but you don't want to live and die with the 3s in the Pac-10, or it'll bite you," Smith said. "Sometimes when you shoot the ball a lot, you lose toughness, and we weren't tough enough inside or outside tonight."
By LANDON HALL
Associated Press Writer
