Bruins Fall In First Round Of NCAA Tournament

Men's Basketball

Ronald Ross is rollin' and Texas Tech is past the first round of the NCAA tournament for the second year in a row. Ross, who scored 28 and 22 points in the semifinals and finals of the Big 12 tourname

March 17, 2005

Game Highlights

By BOB BAUM
AP Sports Writer

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) - Ronald Ross is rollin' and Texas Tech is past the first round of the NCAA tournament for the second year in a row.

Ross, who scored 28 and 22 points in the semifinals and finals of the Big 12 tournament, went for 28 again and the Red Raiders shot a season-high 62 percent in a 78-66 first-round victory over 11th-seeded UCLA on Thursday night.

Texas Tech (21-10) improved to 2-2 in NCAA tournament games since coach Bob Knight came to Lubbock four seasons ago. Knight, meanwhile, is 44-23 in 27 NCAA appearances, but it was only his fourth victory in 12 tournament games since 1995.

The sixth-seeded Red Raiders play No. 3 seed Gonzaga, a 74-64 winner over Winthrop, in the second round of the Albuquerque Regional on Saturday.

UCLA (17-12), with its lowest seed ever on the 10th anniversary of its last national championship, never led but stayed close until a 12-2 run put Texas Tech up 76-61.

Jarrius Jackson scored 16 of his 19 points in the second half for Texas Tech. Devonne Giles added 16 points on 7-for-8 shooting and grabbed nine rebounds.

Dijon Thompson scored 22 for UCLA. Josh Shipp added 13 points. Jordan Farmar had an awful night, going 1-for-9 from the field, 1-for-5 from 3-point range and 0-for-2 at the foul line.

Texas Tech never trailed in the first half, but the Bruins managed to tie it four times, the last at 29-29 on Shipp's fast-break layup with 4:18 to go. The Red Raiders outscored UCLA 8-2 the rest of the half, capped by a pair of inside baskets by Damir Suljagic in the final minute, to go up 37-31 at the break.

Texas Tech shot 57 percent in the first half (16-for-28) to UCLA's 50 percent (13-for-26), but the Bruins shot just 38 percent in the second half, compared with the Red Raiders' 67 percent (16-for-24). Many of the shots were easy ones. Texas Tech had a 48-28 advantage in points in the paint.

The Red Raiders scored the first eight points of the game and were up 12-3 after a pair of jumpers by Giles. The Bruins responded with a 14-5 surge, tying it at 17-17 on consecutive 3-pointers by Brian Morrison and Thompson with 11:45 to play in the half.

Darryl Dora's stuff shot punctuated a 6-0 spurt that gave Knight's team a 45-36 lead with 17:13 left.

UCLA's last gasp came when Arron Afflalo was fouled on a 3-point try, and made all three free throws to cut Texas Tech's lead to 64-59 with 6:32 to play.

Giles followed with a tip-in, Jackson made an 18-footer and the Red Raiders were on their way to Knight's 851st career victory, 26 shy of Dean Smith's NCAA Division I record.