3-POINT BARON DELIVERS; DAVIS RESCUES `SLOPPY' EFFORT IN TEMPE WITH LATE HEROICS : UCLA 68 ARIZONA ST. 65.

Byline: Jon Wilner Daily News Staff Writer

Video became reality here Thursday night, as UCLA guard Baron Davis added a line to his impressive resume - a 3-point line.

For all his spectacular plays and last-second heroics, for all his dunks and drives and razzle-dazzle, Davis had never made a game-winning 3-pointer.

Well, not a real game-winning 3-pointer.

``I've always wanted to do that,'' Davis said with a wide grin after draining the decisive 3-pointer in UCLA's 68-65 victory over Arizona State, before 9,007 at Wells Fargo Arena.

``That's the way I play a video game,'' he added. ``It's tied in regulation, and I'm shooting 3s. I always wanted to shoot a 3 (in a real game) with it tied or us down two. That's why I started celebrating.''

As the ball left his fingertips, Davis raised his arms to the ceiling. The basket broke a 65-65 tie with 40 seconds remaining and propelled the Bruins to their 21st consecutive victory over Arizona State and their fifth straight overall.

Now, with one obstacle left - Saturday, at Arizona, in All-American guard Jason Terry's final home game - the Bruins are on the brink of a massive momentum boost entering the NCAA Tournament.

``This was a sloppy game and it wasn't very well played,'' UCLA coach Steve Lavin said. ``But at this point in the season, we're happy to get a win, especially on the road in conference.''

The Bruins (22-7, 12-5) snapped a road losing streak at three games but lacked the efficiency and discipline they showed in the loss at Stanford three weeks ago. In fact, they did not play well enough to win a second-round NCAA Tournament game, much less survive a visit to Tucson.

They struggled against Arizona State's zone defense. They committed 24 turnovers, shot 40 percent from the field and wasted a double-digit lead in the first half. Their zone offense reverted to January form, their passes were sloppy and their full-court pressure lost its bite midway through the first half.

``We can't be satisfied with this,'' Davis said. ``It was a gut-check win, but we knew it would be tough. We knew they'd make a run at us. It was tough to keep a team that can put points on the board at bay. But down the stretch, we came up big.''

Freshman forward Jerome Moiso overcame his tender feet to gobble all the important rebounds in the final minutes.

Guard Earl Watson scored a game-high 21 points, grabbed nine rebounds and committed just three turnovers. Defensively, he and Davis hounded ASU's leading scorer, guard Eddie House, into 6-of-17 shooting.

``It was one of Earl's better games on the road,'' Lavin said.

The Bruins also received a big lift from senior guard Brandon Loyd, whose presence usually coincides with poor execution against zone defenses.

Sure enough, the Sun Devils spent most of the second half in a compact zone that smothered UCLA's post offense and closed Davis' penetration lanes. The Bruins took bad shots and threw poor passes in their worst performance against a zone since the first Stanford game.

Loyd, the designated zone-buster, played 16 minutes, his second-highest total of the season. Fighting a head cold, he made three 3-pointers and chased the Sun Devils out of their zone with a swish with 3:50 remaining. The basket gave UCLA a 63-59 lead.

``When my career's about to end, I start playing a little,'' he said.

And when the game was about to end, when they trailed 59-54 with nine minutes remaining, so did the Bruins.

They took control of the rebounding, tightened their defense - ASU scored six points in the final 8:40 - and watched Davis bolster his late-season charge for Pac-10 Player of the Year honors.

After ASU's Alton Mason missed two free throws with 47.8 seconds left, Moiso snatched the rebound and passed to Davis near the right sideline. He raced downcourt, saw Mason playing for the drive, and pulled up 21 feet from the basket.

Nothing but net.

Expected to depart for the NBA after the season, Davis is making the most of his final days.

``Until now,'' he said, ``I was always passing up those 3-point opportunities.''

Note: Davis said he might have broken the middle toe on his right foot after a late-game collision. UCLA will know more today, but Davis is expected to play Saturday.

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Photo: (Color) UCLA's JaRon Rush scores over the outstretched arm of Lohnnie Tape of Arizona State Thursday.

Ken Levine/Associated Press