ARIZONA'S RUN DESTROYS UCLA BRUINS MISS CHANCE TO IMPRESS ARIZONA 83, UCLA 73.

Byline: Brian Dohn Staff Writer

Amid the frenzy created by UCLA's five-point lead, built with crowd- pleasing 3-pointers and easy transition baskets, Arizona coach Lute Olson called timeout and ripped into center Channing Frye.

Frye and Arizona guard Salim Stoudamire then offered choice words for the rest of their teammates, and, boy, the message was received.

Before UCLA knew what happened, or how to stop the devastating free fall, the 12th-ranked Wildcats had scored 19 consecutive points to silence the season-high Pauley Pavilion crowd of 12,681.

Arizona eased to an 83-73 win Saturday made a little less embarrassing when the Bruins scored the final 11 points in the last 66 seconds.

UCLA (13-8, 7-6), which fell to fourth place in the Pacific-10 Conference, has six games remaining and will need to finish strong to reach the NCAA Tournament. The Bruins lost a prime chance to impress the NCAA selection committee Saturday.

Arizona (21-4, 11-2) is atop the standings after winning its fourth in a row against the Bruins and third in succession at Pauley.

``We took a number of questionable shots in the second half that just fueled their run, and it showed a lot of our inexperience,'' UCLA coach Ben Howland said. ``In a game like this, it's a huge opportunity for us not to capitalize on, unfortunately.''

Arizona received 22 points from Stoudamire, but it was 20-year-old sophomore Ivan Radenovic's performance - with 19 points and 12 rebounds, five on the offensive glass - that tormented the Bruins.

Jordan Farmar scored a career-high 27 points to pace UCLA, yet it was Arizona's decision to double- and triple-team leading scorer Dijon Thompson that had the Bruins scrambling on offense during the game's pivotal run early in the second half.

Thompson, coming off a career-high 39 points in Thursday's victory over Arizona State, was never a factor. He made 4 of 13 shots for 10 points, committed four turnovers and grabbed a season-low three rebounds.

Thompson acknowledged that picking up two fouls within seven seconds early in the first half played with his mind, but maybe not as much as did Arizona's defensive philosophy.

``He's their team,'' Stoudamire said. ``You have to try and shut down the best player on their team, just like they do me.''

When Arizona emerged from its timeout trailing 47-42 with 17:34 to play, the immediate focus was to pound the ball inside. Frey responded with a basket and free throw to ignite the rally.

The Bruins tossed up poor shots, but the Wildcats took a different approach. They got to the foul line on three successive fouls by center Michael Fey, then went outside as Radenovic hit an 18-footer and Stoudamire made a 3-pointer.

The Bruins missed nine shots in a row as Arizona went on the 19-0 run to build a 61-47 lead on Stoudamire's righty flip and foul shot with 13:04 to play. Howland called a few timeouts during the run, but nothing slowed down the Wildcats.

``It wasn't so much what Lute said as it was ourselves, especially me and Channing, because we're the seniors,'' Stoudamire said. ``We told everybody to play as a team, to get back to the team concept and do the things you do well and not try to do other things.''

UCLA's reliance on 3-pointer also took a toll, well beyond Fey's two points. Although the Bruins made eight 3-pointers for a 39-38 halftime lead, they seemed never to look inside and shot a season-high 29 3- pointers, making just 2 of 13 after intermission.

``Fey, for a little while, was leading the Pac-10 in field-goal percentage,'' Afflalo said. ``He did a helluva job on Frye, and we have to reward our big man. We have to get him the ball. We need some type of inside presence. It's entirely the guards' fault. We just got to get him the ball.''

Brian Dohn, [phone]

brian.dohn(at)dailynews.com

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2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) UCLA's Jordan Farmar, right, is fouled by Arizona's Channing Frye during Saturday's game.

(2) Arizona's Ivan Radenovic, right, tries to block UCLA's Josh Shipp.

Hans Gutknecht/Staff Photographer