Feb. 08, 1997
UCLA Avenges Worse Loss Ever in Convincing Fashion, 87-68
LOS ANGELES -- Charles O'Bannon recorded 23 points and 12 rebounds and Kris Johnson added 17 points as UCLA avenged its worst loss in school history by defeating 18th-ranked Stanford, 87-68, in a Pac-10 Conference clash.
The Bruins (13-7, 8-3 Pac-10) remained tied with USC atop the conference standings, one-half game ahead of Arizona and one game in front of California. UCLA lost the first encounter between the schools, 109-61, on January 9th for the biggest margin of defeat in Bruin history.
"We were embarrassed at Stanford," said O'Bannon. "It wasn't a question of revenge, it was just a game we had to win. Especially after UCLA has been playing recently."
"I can't be prouder of our guys or our coaching staff," said UCLA coach Steve Laven. "The key today was great aggressiveness and our defensive post play. Our defense was especially active and we used our quickness and athleticism to our advantage."
Kris Weems tallied 16 points and Brevin Knight had 14 for Stanford (13-6, 6-5), which has lost three games in a row. The Cardinal have dropped the last six meetings at UCLA and are 2-28 all-time at Pauley Pavilion.
"That was the best I've seen UCLA play all year," said Stanford coach Mike Montgomery. "They were patient and moved the ball and had a high shooting percentage. They also play defense with a lot of emotion and we could not sustain any runs. We're not playing well enough to win a game of this caliber."
Stanford reeled off six straight points to take a 20-18 lead with 8:14 left in the first half before UCLA closed out the half with an 18-9 run. Cameron Dollar scored five points and Jelani McCoy had four in the burst that gave the Bruins a 36-29 cushion.
McCoy, J.R. Henderson and Toby Bailey each netted four points in a 14-4 spurt that tipped off the second half and increased the Bruin advantage to 50-33 with 13:46 to play.
Stanford rallied to cut the gap to 69-59 on Knight's layup with 4:41 remaining before O'Bannon tallied five points and Johnson added four in a 12-2 surge that made it 81-61 with 2:35 to go.
"They played harder than at Stanford," said Knight. "They got out and ran. We came out with fire, but couldn't hold on and let them catch fire."
Henderson, McCoy and Bailey all contributed 12 points for UCLA, which had lost three of its last four games. The team shot 58 percent (30-of-52) from the field and outrebounded the Cardinal, 36-28.
"The difference in our game plan here was to attack them," said Dollar. "Whenever you have a team like ours, the only way you can play is aggressive and constantly be on the attack. Even though our fullcourt press didn't cause too much problems for them, it helped us mentally to be in an aggressive state of mind. Plus, it kept the ball out of Brevin's hands."
Arthur Lee scored 12 points, Mark Madsen had 10 and Tim Young grabbed 10 rebounds for Stanford, which shot 39 percent (25-of-64) from the floor and committed 20 turnovers.
STANFORD (68)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Lee 30 5-12 0-0 0-2 1 4 12
Sauer 18 2-7 0-0 0-0 0 4 4
Young 32 1-7 1-2 6-10 1 4 3
Weems 31 6-11 0-0 0-1 0 2 16
Knight 37 6-16 2-3 0-1 5 2 14
Jackson 5 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 0 0
Madsen 20 1-3 8-9 2-5 0 5 10
Mendez 2 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 0
Van Elswyk 7 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 2 2
Moseley 14 2-5 0-0 1-3 1 1 5
Seaton 3 1-1 0-0 1-1 0 2 2
Tshionyi 1 0-0 0-0 1-1 0 0 0
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TOTALS 200 25-64 11-14 11-24 9 27 68
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Percentages: FG-.391, FT-.786. 3-Point Goals:
7-22, .318 (Lee 2-5, Sauer 0-3, Weems 4-6, Knight
0-4, Mendez 0-1, Moseley 1-3). Team rebounds: 4.
Blocked shots: 1 (Madsen). Turnovers: 20 (Knight
9, Lee 6, Young 2, Madsen, Sauer, Weems). Steals:
8 (Knight 3, Madsen 3, Moseley, Weems).
UCLA (87)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Obannon 38 6-10 10-11 2-12 3 2 23
Henderson 31 4-7 4-6 1-3 1 4 12
Mccoy 29 6-8 0-0 1-4 5 4 12
Bailey 29 5-11 0-2 3-6 4 3 12
Dollar 32 3-6 5-7 0-2 2 3 11
Johnson 23 6-9 5-6 1-3 0 3 17
Loyd 8 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Myers 9 0-0 0-0 1-4 0 0 0
Mcgautha 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
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TOTALS 200 30-52 24-32 9-34 15 19 87
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Percentages: FG-.577, FT-.750. 3-Point Goals:
3-8, .375 (Obannon 1-2, Bailey 2-3, Dollar 0-1,
Johnson 0-1, Loyd 0-1). Team rebounds: 2. Blocked
shots: 4 (Obannon 2, Mccoy 2). Turnovers: 18
(Johnson 4, Dollar 3, Henderson 3, Obannon 3,
Bailey 2, Mccoy 2, Mcgautha). Steals: 10 (Dollar
4, Mccoy 3, Henderson 2, Bailey).
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Stanford 29 39 - 68
Ucla 36 51 - 87
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Technical fouls: None. Officials: Richard
Ballesteros, Mark Reischling, Bob Sitov.