A PIVOTAL FACTOR WAS MCCOY'S PLAY IN THE PIVOT.

Byline: Jon Wilner Daily News Staff Writer

It may have been business for his teammates, but it was personal for UCLA center Jelani McCoy.

At first, he downplayed the redemption theme against Stanford and its 7-foot center, Tim Young. But when someone asked about Young's 15 points and 10 rebounds in their meeting last month, McCoy made a quick correction.

``It was 10 points and 10 rebounds,'' he said, sternly, after the Bruins had dispatched Stanford 87-68 Saturday at Pauley Pavilion.

So he had memorized Young's linescore?

``Yeah, yeah, I know what he did up there. And I know some people thought he outplayed me,'' said McCoy, who had four points and one rebound in the first meeting. ``I just wanted to come out today focused and intense and have a good showing against him.''

He had a great showing, with 12 points, five assists, four rebounds, three steals and two blocks.

If not for seniors Charles O'Bannon and Cameron Dollar, McCoy would have been UCLA's most valuable player.

``Jelani was back to his old self, dominating in the middle,'' Bruins guard Toby Bailey said.

McCoy's greatest contribution was his defense. He held Young to 1-for-7 shooting and three points by moving his feet and playing in front of his nemesis.

``Last time, I had never played against Young before and I was feeling him out,'' McCoy said. ``This time, I knew what he likes to do. He likes that little short hook shot, so I played in front of him. Every time he touched it, I got upset with myself.''

McCoy showed off his scoring, passing and defense in a 10-0 second-half surge that gave the Bruins command.

First, he found Bailey for a layup and a 42-33 lead.

Then, with 15:35 left, he spun to the right baseline and hit a 4-foot jump hook over Young: 44-33.

A few seconds later, he rotated off Young and provoked an errant shot from Stanford's Mark Madsen in the low post.

On the ensuing possession, he passed through the Stanford defense to J.R. Henderson for a layup: 46-33.

Then he grabbed a loose ball on the defensive end, which led to a Henderson jumper: 48-33.

Finally, he tracked down a long pass from Henderson and slammed it home to give the Bruins a 50-33 lead.

``We needed him to play big today, and that's exactly what he did,'' UCLA forward Kris Johnson said.

It was a symbolic performance for McCoy, whose effort and attitude were so poor at Stanford that he was benched for a long portion of the game, then yanked from the starting lineup two days later at Cal.

``I wasn't concentrating on that at all,'' he said. ``I was just thinking about playing a good game against Young, not about getting pulled from the lineup and what happened a month ago. What mattered to me was the game at hand.''

He had a big hand in the outcome.

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Main Story: UCLA fired up in rout