BALL BOUNCES THE BRUINS' WAY GADZURIC STEPS UP WITH BIG PLAY AS IRVINE MISSES ITS BID FOR UPSET UCLA 75, IRVINE 74.

Byline: Billy Witz Staff Writer

As UC Irvine's Jerry Green stood dribbling down the clock behind the 3-point line, with the ball and the game in his hands, there wasn't a UCLA player who wasn't squirming.

Green had spent the afternoon making fools of UCLA, not to mention the NBA teams who passed him over in last year's draft. He'd hit 3-pointers, slashed to the basket for buckets and set up his teammates for easy baskets.

As the clock hit eight seconds, UCI center Adam Parada came out to the 3-point line to set a pick for Green, who was guarded by Rico Hines. Green went to his right, was picked up by UCLA center Dan Gadzuric and stepped back before re-directing himself back toward the basket.

``We knew he was going to shoot,'' said UCLA guard Billy Knight.

``I was just hoping it wouldn't go in,'' said teammate Dijon Thompson.

Green, about 10 feet from the basket, left his feet, and with the 6-foot-11 Gadzuric reaching over, lofted a leaning shot toward the basket. It banked off the backboard, never hit the rim and in the scramble for the rebound, it rolled out of bounds as time expired.

Only then, after a 75-74 victory over UC Irvine, could the 7,379 fans at Pauley Pavilion exhale. Santa Claus won't be delivering a bigger present than the ones the Bruins received Saturday.

They were outshot, outrebounded and outhustled, and the team that has already lost to opponents from the Mid-American and West Coast conferences was the first to admit it had little business beating the preseason pick to win the Big West.

``Obviously, we were very fortunate to be able to win,'' said Bruins coach Steve Lavin, whose team is 5-2 and ranked 17th. ``They really played better basketball than we did for 36 minutes.''

Said Knight: ``The best team definitely didn't win.''

The Bruins, who played without injured forward Matt Barnes, were rescued by a phenomenal second-half performance by Jason Kapono, who made 7 of 7 shots and scored 21 of his 25 points after halftime, and by the late-game heroics of Gadzuric.

With UCLA trailing 64-58 with 6:48 left, Kapono scored 13 consecutive points to rally the Bruins almost singlehandedly. He hit three 3-pointers during the run, the last two of which put UCLA into the lead.

Kapono, in his new role of point guard, spent too much of the first half distributing the ball and not enough shooting it. He ended the half without a basket and took only four shots.

``In an effort to show you can do other things, sometimes you forget about your shots,'' Lavin said. ``I reminded him that home-run hitters hit home runs, base stealers steal bases. There are times when I rather have him shoot from NBA range than pass because the shot many not come around again or we may turn the ball over.''

Kapono didn't take long to adjust his approach.

``He told me, 'Give me the ball. I'm spotting up,' '' said Thompson, who played 38 minutes in the first start of his career and scored a career-high 14 points and led the Bruins with seven rebounds and four assists. ``When he said that, it was time for me to start trusting him and I gave him the ball.''

As well as Kapono, Thompson and Knight (a season-high 21 points, including four 3-pointers) played, they were rescued by Gadzuric at the end.

The center, who passed up the NBA draft to return for his senior season, has struggled this year and for the first 38 minutes and 35 seconds he wasn't much better. In one 20-second span, he missed a dunk, missed a turnaround jumper and was called for traveling. With 1:25 left, he fouled Parada on an entry pass at the high post and the UCI sophomore hit both free throws to put UCI ahead 74-73.

On the ensuing possession, Thompson drove to the basket and Parada left Gadzuric to challenge Thompson. The shot, altered by the 7-foot Parada, hit off the glass and Gadzuric grabbed it and dunked it to put the Bruins ahead 75-74 with 1:04 left.

UCI (5-4), which shot 75 percent from the field in the second half, worked the ball around and called timeout with 30 seconds left when Green was trapped and the shot clock down to four seconds. On the inbounds play, Stanislav Zuzak, who scored a career-high 22 points, missed an open 3-pointer, but Gadzuric batted the rebound out of bounds, giving UCI one more shot with 25.4 seconds left.

Green, who finished with 27 points, had Parada open rolling to the basket after the pick, but he had no regrets about the last shot. The only thing he'd like to have back is his eight turnovers - many of them unforced. Despite little pressure, UCI turned the ball over 22 times.

``They were dumb mistakes,'' Green said of his turnovers. ``I can see a freshman or a sophomore but not a senior. We gave it all we've got. It just wasn't enough.''

The Bruins, who open Pac-10 play at Washington on Thursday, know that whatever their record or ranking, the way they're playing isn't enough.

``This was a very nasty win,'' Kapono said. ``A very ugly win.''

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Photo:

(1 -- color) UCLA's Jason Kapono made 7 of 7 shots and scored 21 of his 25 points in the second half of Saturday's win at Pauley Pavilion.

(2) Standout UC-Irvine guard Jerry Green is surrounded by UCLA defenders Saturday afternoon at Pauley Pavilion. The Bruins won 75-74 as a last-second shot by Green missed its mark.

Tom Mendoza/Staff Photographer

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