BRUINS WRIGHT ON IN TITLE MATCH UCLA THROTTLES UCSD AS HARD-LUCK CAPTAIN WATCHES UCLA 11, UCSD 2.

Byline: Lee Barnathan Staff Writer

MALIBU - He sat quietly on the UCLA bench, wearing a white T-shirt instead of a water polo cap. He occasionally shouted encouragement to this teammates in the pool but mostly sat quietly.

Yet Adam Wright never was far from his teammates' minds. They inked Wright's No. 5 on their shoulders, sought him out for advice and motivation before Sunday's NCAA men's water polo championship at Pepperdine.

And after the Bruins won their seventh national championship, 11-2 over UC San Diego, they threw Wright into the pool.

``I can't be more proud as a captain or a player,'' Wright said later. ``The situation involved me - if this didn't happen, if we didn't win this, I'd be disappointed beyond belief.''

Wright was declared ineligible earlier this season because he had used up his four seasons. He thought he had redshirted his freshman season (he played in just one match before getting hurt), but UCLA never completed the necessary paperwork. A temporary restraining order kept Wright in the pool until a judge sympathetic to the NCAA threw out the order, and the Bruins forfeited four matches.

UCLA goalie Brandon Brooks - also Wright's roommate - called the whole ordeal ``uplifting and devastating at the same time.''

Yet UCLA (19-7) probably would have been here anyway. As they showed overmatched UCSD (21-8) Sunday, the Bruins have too much depth, speed and defensive ability. The margin of victory was the largest in a national-championship match, surpassing UC Santa Barbara's 11-3 victory over UCLA in 1979.

It wasn't just Olympian (and Final Four MVP) Sean Kern, who scored two goals. It was senior Brian Brown, who scored three goals. It was junior Jeff Pflueger scoring two goals. It was seniors Andrew Bailey, Dave Parker and Blake Wellen also scoring, making it a complete sweep for seniors scoring.

And it was a defense that spread out the Tritons and often didn't allow them a shot.

``UCLA's pretty darn good,'' San Diego coach Denny Harper said. ``They're better with Adam Wright, but they obviously didn't need to be better.''

UCLA coach Guy Baker reiterated what the players have said all along: They preferred losing with Adam than winning without him.

But since they were there, Brooks said, they might as well win.

``I see him all the time and he's handling it so well,'' Brooks said. ``I want to send him out on top.''

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Photo: Final Four MVP Sean Kern of UCLA drives for the ball during the Bruins' title-game-record 11-2 victory over UC San Diego in the NCAA championship final Sunday at Pepperdine University.

Charlotte Schmid-Maybach/Staff Photographer