BRUINS STEP UP TO BEAT 'BAMA UCLA 79, ALABAMA 57.

Byline: Billy Witz Staff Writer

ANAHEIM - As the UCLA basketball team ran off the court at the Pond after routing 16th-ranked Alabama 79-57 on Saturday in the Wooden Classic, the Bruins did so with purpose and a bounce in their step.

Which, for the first time all season, is the way they played.

From opening tip until the final horn, the Bruins played with passion at the defensive end and poise at the offensive end, and for the first time showed some semblance of a team that was awarded a No. 5 preseason ranking.

The Bruins, after losing to Ball State and Pepperdine, and languishing against UC Riverside three days earlier in their first game without injured point guard Cedric Bozeman, ran virtually wire to wire for this victory.

``It was pretty big for us,'' said UCLA forward Jason Kapono, who spent the postgame news conference answering questions and coughing up phlegm. ``Each year, we always start out slow, but we stuck together.''

Kapono, who is suffering from a head cold, scored a game-high 22 points, grabbed eight rebounds and was nearly flawless in handling most of the point-guard duties. He handed out five assists without a turnover in 35 minutes.

Yet, this was hardly a one-man effort. Power forward Matt Barnes, who provided an early offensive spark, had a season-high 15 points and eight rebounds and helped handle the ball on the few occasions when Alabama applied full-court pressure.

The Bruins (4-2) turned the ball over a mere nine times - half their average - and the worst defensive team in the Pacific-10 Conference watched Alabama shoot 29 percent from the field.

Want some more signs that it was the Bruins' day?

Barnes, who had made one 3-pointer this season, hit both he attempted. Center Dan Gadzuric, a 31 percent free-throw shooter, made 3 of 4.

``When Matt Barnes is hitting 3-pointers and Gadzuric is hitting foul shots - that's a good day for UCLA,'' said Alabama coach Mark Gottfried, who neglected to mention the most uncommon event of the day.

Early in the second half, after precisely 95 minutes and 26 seconds on the court this season, Rico Hines scored. The fifth-year senior had missed his first 14 shots of the season.

``They caught us on the wrong day,'' UCLA coach Steve Lavin said. ``It's been a tough November for us, figuring out what fits where.''

UCLA, which turned its season around a year ago with a full-court press, abandoned it Saturday, choosing instead to retreat and pack in its 2-3 zone.

The Bruins wanted to make Alabama, which got most of its offense off fast breaks and hitting the offensive boards, beat them in a halfcourt game. It was the same defense the Bruins played against UC Riverside, they just played it with more energy.

Alabama, rarely making an effort to get the ball inside, fired away beyond the 3-point arc and rarely found the mark. The Crimson Tide made just 7 of 33 3-pointers.

``They were the story, not us,'' Gottfried said. ``I thought we were pathetic, but a lot of it had to do with them. If a team's going to zone you, you have to make shots. If you don't make shots, you're going to look at it for 40 minutes.''

At the offensive end, Kapono made a point of getting others involved early - he didn't attempt a shot until 7:02 was left in the first half. But Barnes and Gadzuric scored the Bruins' first 11 points and they raced to a 17-9 lead.

Alabama (6-2) then picked up its man-to-man pressure for one of a few times and it sparked three consecutive turnovers. The Tide took a 20-19 lead, their only one of the game, but the Bruins answered and finished the half with a 14-1 run.

Alabama made one run in the second half, closing to within 56-50 on Terrance Meade's 3-pointer with 8:24 left, but UCLA regrouped after a 30-second timeout. The Bruins got a pair of 3-pointers from Kapono and got to the line by going inside to Barnes and Gadzuric, and when Kapono hit his second 3-pointer they led 66-52.

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UCLA's Dan Gadzuric, center, celebrates with Matt Barnes and Jason Kapono after the Bruins cruised to victory over Alabama.

Kevork Djansezian/Associated Press