Bruins Take a Run at Top-Ranked Arizona : But Second-Half Rally Fizzles as Wildcats Scratch Out an 86-74 Win

TUCSON —  Just days after former heavyweight champion Larry Holmes came out dancing and swinging in the fourth round, lasting longer than a lot of folks thought he would, the UCLA basketball team put up a noble fight against No. 1-ranked Arizona.

The Bruins even gave them a scare, leading with less than six minutes to play, and momentarily silencing the red-clad crowd of 13,258 in McKale Center Sunday afternoon .

But these former champions went down, too.

Arizona rallied to knock out last season’s Pac-10 champions, 86-74. The No. 1 ranking is safe. Arizona’s record went to 18-1 overall, 8-0 in the Pac-10.

The Bruins, 7-10 overall, are in seventh place in the conference standings with a record of 3-4.

Still, it was something of a jolt to see the struggling Bruins come so close to a team that has been beating its Pac-10 cohorts by an average of 29 points.

Arizona Coach Lute Olson, after praising the Bruins for playing with a lot of heart and having a chance to win the ballgame, added, “It was great to get pushed. If you don’t get into those late game situations, you don’t get to see how you’ll handle yourselves. There’s no way we’ll finish the season always having blowouts.

“This was good for us.”

UCLA Coach Walt Hazzard didn’t want to say anything that could be taken as settling for moral victory. Hazzard said, “We go out and play to win. We don’t concede anything.

“We had a chance to grasp ‘em by the throat and we didn’t. We let them get out of our clutches.”

After trailing by as many as 15 points in the first half, and by 15 points again in the second half, UCLA scored a quick eight straight to get back in the game before Olson called a timeout with 12:27 to play and settled his troops.

The Bruins kept playing tough defense and a strong transition game to whittle away at the score until they were able to take a 66-64 lead on Kevin Walker’s three-pointer with 5:52 to play, a 22-footer from the right wing.

At that point, the Wildcats ran off eight straight. In that stretch, Walker put up an airball, the Bruins lost a rebound out of bounds and Pooh Richardson got a hand on a rebound that bounced away to Wildcat center Tom Tolbert.

Hazzard said, “I was not happy with a lot of things that happened in that stretch. . . . I think we can play better.”

For the most part, though, the Bruins played very well. Trevor Wilson is establishing himself as a force at forward. He had 16 points and 13 rebounds for his eighth double-double of the season.

Guard Dave Immel led the Bruins with 19 points, although he was 1 for 5 from three-point range.

Arizona point guard Steve Kerr was especially impressed with the Bruins’ point guard. “Pooh was creating all kinds of stuff,” Kerr said. “You just can’t let him have the court to run it at will like that.

“Pooh was getting in on everything.”

Once again, forward Kevin Walker came off the bench to add some scoring, getting 15 points including two three-pointers.

Bruin center Kelvin Butler played only 17 minutes. He came out early in the first half when it became obvious that Arizona’s inside game was squelching UCLA’s inside game. In the first half, center Tom Tolbert was 4 of 6, forward Sean Elliott was 5 of 9 and forward Anthony Cook was 7 of 8 from the field.

In the final tally, Tolbert had 19 points and Cook 18. Arizona was led by Elliott, who had 27 points on 9 of 17 shooting from the floor and 8 of 12 shooting from the free-throw line.

It did not escape Hazzard that the Bruins were called for 20 personal fouls to 15 for Arizona, or that Arizona shot 25 free throws to 19 for UCLA.

“We played about as well as we can play considering we’re not going to get a call in here,” Hazzard said. “I’m not saying the game was poorly officiated. That’s part of the game and part of traveling.

“When Pooh’s pass to Trevor went out of bounds, that was because the man defending Trevor bumped his legs so he couldn’t jump up for the pass. . . . Elliott was using his off arm to free himself for his shot. If we do that, it’s a call. But, of course, that’s the way I see it from where I sit. The officials are doing the best they can in front of 13,000 red people sitting there.”

The way Kerr saw it, though, the Bruins were not intimidated at any point.

“I didn’t think they would be intimidated,” Kerr said. “They’re not rookies. Pooh, Immel, Rochelin, they’re veteran players who came in here and beat us last year. They didn’t really surprise me at all that they could come in here and play so well, especially that they would play their transition game so well.

“It did surprise me that once we had them by 15 it didn’t continue to 20 or 25. That’s what has happened with other teams. But that was when we were messing up. . . . Some of our big fellas weren’t getting back on defense.

“But we knew they were a very good team. I see a huge improvement in their team since the early part of the season. Not to take anything away from Greg Foster, because he has a lot of ability, but without him they all seem to know their roles and their part in the rotation.

“I think they’re a good team. Their record is not a good indication of what they can do.”

So maybe the Pac-10 tournament here at the end of the year won’t be all that one-sided after all?

Smiling, Kerr said, “I think if UCLA keeps playing this well, they could finish second.”