[0] BRUINS A STEP AHEAD UCLA EDGES BY LOWLY OREGON ST. UCLA 65, OREGON ST. 57.

Byline: Billy Witz Staff Writer

The one-step-forward, one-step-back Bruins looked finally to be going in the right direction after beating Stanford last weekend. Then the other foot came down.

The Bruins might have beaten Oregon State 65-57 before 8,959 Thursday night at Pauley Pavilion. And they might have gained ground on Arizona and USC, pulling into a four-way tie for third place. But this could hardly be classified as a step in the right direction.

UCLA (19-9, 11-6) struggled to put away an Oregon State team that it beat by 22 points in Corvallis, and saw itself ahead by a basket with 80 seconds to play.

``We've got to be better,'' senior Rico Hines said. ``We've got to come out with a better effort. We were up in the beginning, slacked off and not keeping up with the same intensity.''

The much-ballyhooed motion offense, which was supposed to free the Bruins up, looked a lot like the old offense - stagnant down the stretch. UCLA managed just two baskets in the final 11 1/2 minutes - both of them by Matt Barnes.

The Bruins, who didn't miss Barnes when he sat out the win over Stanford because of a suspension for fighting, sure needed him Thursday.

Barnes scored a game-high 14 points, including a pair of free throws with 1:14 to play that gave UCLA a 61-57 lead.

Then the Beavers went brain-dead. After UCLA knocked the ball out of bounds with 51.5 seconds left and 13 on the shot clock, the Beavers inbounded the ball and worked it around until Joe See had it in the corner with four seconds left on the shot clock.

See, however, didn't see the shot clock and dribbled around the perimeter as it ran out with 38.6 seconds left in the game. Billy Knight hit four free throws the rest of the way to seal it.

It was the second costly mistake the Beavers (12-16, 4-13) made down the stretch. With 5:50 to play, coming out of a timeout, Oregon State had six players on the court and was hit with a technical foul. Jason Kapono made both free throws to put UCLA ahead 55-51. He was then fouled running through the lane without the ball and made two more free throws to put UCLA ahead by six.

The Bruins, who made their final 10 free throws after missing seven of their first eight, needed the clutch free throws. Even against an Oregon State team that shot just 32.8 percent from the field.

Barnes hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key just before the buzzer to give UCLA a 37-29 lead at halftime. The Bruins, who were in control from the start, seemed to fight their own interest level as much as they battled the Beavers.

The Bruins built an 18-7 lead on Knight's 3-pointer with 14 minutes left in the half, before Oregon State closed to within 20-16 on Jarmon Sample's free throw with 9:44 left. In the run, UCLA missed four shots, turned the ball over three times and got its only basket when T.J. Cummings followed his own shot that was blocked.

The Bruins then gathered themselves and extended the lead to 29-19 when Cedric Bozeman waltzed 35 feet through a wide-open lane for a layin. The Beavers narrowed the gap to four on Philip Ricci's follow dunk, but the Beavers would get no closer.

The Bruins got a boost off the bench from Cummings, who made all four of his shots for eight points - more than the sophomore had scored in any of the Bruins' last seven games. Also, Cummings, who had 10 turnovers in his last three games, didn't have one in seven minutes.

The Beavers, who missed 7 of 32 from 3-point range in their 22-point loss to UCLA in Corvallis, were much more intent on getting the ball inside Thursday. It might have worked out better if the Beavers hadn't blown nearly a half-dozen contested layins. As it was, they hit 4 of 10 3-point shots.

For much of the second half, it was the same. The Bruins would stretch out a lead to double digits, then watch the Beavers creep back.

For a six-minute stretch in the second half, the Bruins played their second unit - freshmen Andre Patterson, Dijon Thompson and Ryan Walcott, and Hines and Cummings. What the unit lacked in offense, it made up for in energy on the defensive end.

Thompson, with his 6-foot-7 frame and long arms, let J.S. Nash penetrate but then blocked two shot attempts. Patterson blocked a short hook shot from Ricci. When the second unit entered, with 14:26 to play, UCLA had a 44-37 lead. When it left, the Bruins were up 50-44.

CAPTION(S):

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Photo:

UCLA's Dan Gadzuric goes up for a basket against Oregon State's Philip Ricci on Thursday night at Pauley Pavilion.

Edna T. Simpson/Staff Photographer

Box:

PAC-10 STANDINGS