UA panics in final minute

Katherine K. Gardiner Arizona Daily Wildcat UA junior forward Bennett Davison battles UCLA's J.R. Henderson for a loose ball during second half action at McKale Center last night. The Wildcats lost to the Bruins 66-64.

No. 11 Arizona's (15-6 overall, 7-4 in Pacific 10 conference) inability to finish in the final minute translated to a 66-64 UCLA (14-7, 9-3) win in front of 14,474 fans last night.

"It's disappointing," UA sophomore center A.J. Bramlett said. "To play as hard as we did and still fall short at the end, it really hurts."

The Bruins rode the shooting touch of Charles O'Bannon, as the senior forward accounted for 26 points on 10 of 14 shooting. Arizona received solid efforts from juniors Miles Simon and Michael Dickerson, with the two combining for 45 points. Yet Simon coul d not hit either of his two shots in the final 17 seconds to force the game into overtime.

"They made the plays down the stretch, and we didn't," UA head coach Lute Olson said. "You can't have two turnovers in your final two possessions of a close game and hope to win."

Arizona came out of the gates with a furry on defense, leading with full-court pressure from the tip-off. After seven minutes of trading baskets, the Wildcat press began to wear down the Bruins and force some turnovers. The first came in the form of a Dic kerson steal leading to a Donnell Harris dunk to cut the Bruins' lead to just one.

50 seconds later, an errand UCLA pass amounted to a Dickerson jam. And just 30 seconds later, Arizona finished off a 6-0 run with another Donnell Harris layup to put them ahead 19-16 with 9:25 remaining.

"I think we did a good job with our pressure and forced them to make some mistakes," UA sophomore guard Jason Terry said. "We just didn't finish our opportunities as well as we could have."

Arizona's finishing woes began when Simon left the court with 4:50 remaining in the first half. After a key steal by Dickerson, Arizona threw the ball away and allowed UCLA to regroup. The Bruins then used a pair of three-footers by sophomore Center Jelan i McCoy and junior forward J.R. Henderson to key a 7-0 run and give the Bruins a 30-29 lead with 2:31 remaining.

Not wanting to be outdone, Simon returned from the bench to spark two coast-to-coast drives and give Arizona a 33-32 halftime lead.

"I just wanted to go out and have a big game," said Simon, who finished with 15 points in the first half. "I tried to lead the guys out there."

The second half began with sloppy play on both sides. And after back-to-back three-pointers by junior Toby Bailey and O'Bannon, Arizona found themselves trailing 46-41 with 13:28 left.

Noting a sense of urgency, Simon put the Wildcats back in the game by drawing a foul from the three-point area and capitalizing on all three free-throws. While the Wildcats showed signs of life, they could only cut the lead to 53-50 with 8:25 remaining.

"When the game was getting into crunch-time, we knew we had to push the tempo," Terry said.

After another healthy dose of a Wildcat press, UCLA began to fall back on its heals. Soon after, two soft Bruin jumpers fell victim to the long arms of UA junior forward Bennett Davison. Two long three-pointers by freshman guard Mike Bibby and Terry knott ed the score at 60 with just 2:55 remaining.

Yet with a 64-62 lead and 1:40 remaining, the wheels began to fall off Arizona's offensive machine. Instead of conserving time and waiting for a good shot, Dickerson tried to force a pass to Davison. The pass was stolen by Henderson and O'Bannon's 7-foot jumper with 1:28 left tied up the game at 64.

Lightning struck again for the Wildcats as Simon committed a controversial charging foul, giving the Bruins the ball with 45 seconds remaining.

Using a solid offensive set, UCLA worked the ball into Henderson for a game-winning four-footer.

"We did not do a good job on J.R. down the stretch," Olson said. "It was devastating to give him a four-foot jump shot at that point in the game."

By the numbers, Arizona had a pretty successful game. They forced 28 Bruin turnovers, and only allowed UCLA six offensive boards for the night. Yet the Wildcats still fell short in the most important category, points.

"We gave the game away. Good teams are not soft on defense down the stretch, and we were," UA freshman forward Eugene Edgerson said. "We just need to forget this foolishness, and come out and whip USC's ass on Saturday."