DESERT DROUGHT DOOMS UCLA BRUINS ALLOW 21-0 ARIZONA RUN BEFORE, AFTER HALF ARIZONA 106, UCLA 70.

Byline: Billy Witz Staff Writer

TUCSON, Ariz. - You want dry?

Forget about taking a deep breath of the desert air. Don't bother kicking your boots into the parched dirt that passes for lawns here.

If it's dry you're looking for look no farther than the UCLA basketball team, which once again left town with its shooting touch, its confidence and, in this case, its dignity, evaporated.

In a season of record lows, the Bruins set another one Thursday night, getting clobbered by No. 1 Arizona 106-70 in front of 14,559 at McKale Center - their worst defeat in a dismal season.

``We fell apart,'' UCLA senior Ray Young said. ``We straight fell apart.''

Not that this was anything new. It was the Bruins' sixth consecutive loss at McKale. Since winning in coach Steve Lavin's first season, the losses have been by 12, 17, 15, 25, 10 and now 36 points.

After snapping a losing streak at nine games last weekend and getting off to a promising start against the Wildcats on Thursday, the Bruins went bone dry late in the first half and early in the second half. In a hail of turnovers, missed shots and fast-break dunks, Arizona went on a 21-0 run to turn the game into a rout.

``It's called the spurt of death,'' UCLA forward Jason Kapono said. ``Once they go on it, you might as well hang it up.''

And that they did.

The Bruins, who gave up 13 offensive rebounds in the first half - the last of which was a putback by Arizona center Channing Frye at the buzzer to give the Wildcats a 45-34 lead - committed 15 turnovers in the second half.

In the 21-0 run, UCLA missed four shots, two of which were swatted away by Frye. The Bruins turned over the ball six times and allowed Arizona to score on 9 of 11 possessions.

Arizona (19-2, 11-1 Pacific-10 Conference) shot 58 percent in the second half, many of them breakaway dunks or layups and open 3-pointers.

``We picked up the intensity and they looked rattled,'' said Arizona guard Salim Stoudamire, who with 14 points was one of five Wildcats in double figures. ``We wanted to keep them on their heels. We saw blood and went after them.

``You could see it in their eyes. They started talking to each other in negative ways instead of encouraging each other.''

When Arizona's Hassan Adams went up to grab an alley-oop pass for a dunk, the player he had to outjump for the ball wasn't a Bruin but teammate Andre Iguodala.

``They're a team that counts on two or three vital spurts in a game,'' said Kapono, who had 11 points but managed only six shots. ``But instead of 10-2, it was like 40-2.

``They feed off the crowd and they're well-coached. If they're up 20, they want to be up 30. If they're up 30, they want to be up 40.''

UCLA trailed by 39 points with 6:31 left, and only happenstance kept this from becoming the worst loss in school history (48 points).

At the end, all Arizona coach Lute Olson could do as he approached Lavin at midcourt was put his palms up and shrug his shoulders.

``The turnovers led to run-outs and two-on-none, three-on-none, four- on-none and five on-none,'' Lavin said. ``There was a lot of boat racing.''

Early on, the Bruins seemed intent on building on their streak-snapping 71-70 victory over Georgetown. They hung with the Wildcats, trailing only 35-32 despite their three big men - T.J. Cummings, Ryan Hollins and Andre Patterson - each getting saddled with two fouls.

But Arizona closed the half with a push and took its largest lead of the half, 45-34, on Frye's putback.

``My biggest concern,'' Lavin said of halftime, ``was that the entire front line was in foul trouble.''

Soon he had bigger concerns. Rick Anderson got inside Patterson for a layup. Hollins turned the ball over, leading to a fast-break layup for Jason Gardner. Dijon Thompson had his shot blocked by Frye, and Stoudamire hit a 3-pointer at the other end.

Timeout, UCLA: 52-34 with 18:47 left.

``At the start of the second half, we didn't come out like we wanted it,'' Young said. ``We got what you ask for when you go into the second half lackadaisical.''

The loss assured the Bruins (5-15, 2-9) would remain in ninth place in the Pac-10, one game behind eighth-place Washington, whom the Bruins must catch to land the final berth in next month's conference tournament.

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Photo:

(color) UCLA's Cedric Bozeman (21) tries to evade the pressing defense of Arizona's Chris Rodgers.

John Miller/Associated Press

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