STANFORD TAKES UCLA TO SCHOOL CARDINAL SHOWS BRUINS WHO'S NO. 1 STANFORD 85, UCLA 79.

Byline: Billy Witz Staff Writer

On an afternoon in which Pauley Pavilion brimmed with all the life, emotion and fans it could hold, the No. 12 UCLA basketball team performed with the heart of a champion.

The only trouble was the Bruins ran into a team with the heart of a killer.

Methodically and decidedly, Stanford finally lived up to its No. 1 ranking against the Bruins, scoring an 85-79 victory in front of a national-television audience and a sellout crowd of 12,523.

Stanford (27-1, 15-1), after twice being knocked from the nation's top spot by UCLA in the past 13 months, avenged its only loss of the season, clinched a share of its third consecutive Pacific-10 Conference title and most likely the No. 1 seed in the West Regional of the NCAA Tournament.

The Bruins (20-7, 13-3), who were bidding for their first Pac-10 title since 1997, had an eight-game winning streak broken and lost for only the third time in 19 games and the first time at home since Christmas.

``The way they played today, they're the best team we've played this season,'' UCLA coach Steve Lavin said. ``We punched and counterpunched and they just came out on top.''

UCLA shot 50.7 percent from the field, turned the ball over a mere seven times and got a career-high 32 points from an all-but-unstoppable Matt Barnes and another guts-and-glory performance from Earl Watson, who had 19 points, five assists, three steals and four stitches on his chin in his Pauley farewell.

What the Bruins didn't get was much help from anyone else.

Jason Kapono scored eight points and missed all four 3-pointers he took. Billy Knight, who had 22 points at Stanford, was held to six. And center Dan Gadzuric, limited to 19 minutes by foul trouble, had just eight points and four rebounds to go with five blocks.

``We need five guys, plus the bench and the coaches,'' Barnes said. ``No two guys can beat five.''

Only Ryan Bailey, with five rebounds and four assists in his final home game, gave the Bruins anything meaningful off the bench.

``Jason struggled and Ray (Young) or T.J. (Cummings) weren't able to step up,'' Lavin said. ``It was one of those games where we didn't get any contribution from anyone else.''

When Gadzuric went to the bench with his second foul five minutes into the game, it didn't take long for Stanford to exploit his absence.

The Cardinal pounded the ball inside to Jarron and Jason Collins, the twins from Harvard-Westlake High of Studio City, and played the inside-outside game expertly, going on a 15-0 run to take a 28-18 lead they never lost.

The Cardinal, which was flustered by the Bruins' press in Palo Alto, had few problems with it Saturday. The team often let Jarron Collins bring the ball up, and when Stanford beat the press quickly, the Cardinal attacked it.

Yet, Stanford coach Mike Montgomery said the game was won at the defensive end. Knight and Kapono, who made 6 of 11 3-pointers in Palo Alto, were 0 for 6.

``They scouted us real well,'' Knight said. ``We couldn't get the looks we normally get. It seemed like they were ready for this game.''

Last month, the Cardinal helped when the ball went into the post by leaving the perimeter exposed. On Saturday, there were no open looks to be had.

Several times, Casey Jacobsen anticipated a kick-out pass to Knight in the corner and tipped it out of bounds.

``We just didn't locate those guys very well last time,'' Montgomery said. ``We were overcommitting to help and they were kicking out and shooting wide-open shots. We talked about not doing that over and over and over again.

``Watson loves to jump in the air and everybody freezes and he finds the open guys. What that meant is we left our post guys by themselves, but the Collins kids have been very good at handling themselves.''

By not switching and scrambling, it also left Stanford in better position to rebound. After getting outrebounded by the Bruins at home, Stanford dominated the glass with a 40-27 advantage.

Never was it more apparent than in the 15-0 run, when UCLA missed seven consecutive shots and didn't garner a single offensive rebound.

In all, the Collins twins combined for 32 points and 19 rebounds, making 13 of 20 shots.

``They've got great, big post players,'' said Barnes. ``We'd get one shot and they'd clean up the boards.''

UCLA had an opportunity to close the gap when Stanford, leading 65-55, scored just four points over a seven-minute span. But when Jason Collins tossed in a hook shot with 4:01 left to end the skid, the Cardinal still led 71-61.

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Photo: (color) UCLA senior Earl Watson, right, has his shot blocked by Stanford's Jason Collins. Watson played his final game at Pauley Pavilion on Saturday.

Phil McCarten/Staff Photographer