THIS LOSS REALLY MATTERS UCLA OPENS SEASON WITH OVERTIME STUNNER SAN DIEGO 86, UCLA 81.

Byline: Billy Witz Staff Writer

Those two exhibitions losses didn't count in the standings, but they counted for something.

When the curtain went up on the UCLA basketball team's season Tuesday, the Bruins weren't much better to look at, losing in overtime to the University of San Diego 86-81.

UCLA, which came into the game ranked 14th and a 14-point favorite, blew an eight-point lead in the second half and lost its season opener for the fourth time in seven years under coach Steve Lavin.

Exploiting the same lack of inside presence apparent in the two exhibition games, San Diego's 6-foot-10 tattooed center Jason Keep put a few tattoos on the Bruins, scoring a career-high 30 points.

While the Toreros hammered the Bruins inside, it was a pair of 3-pointers - one by Jason Blair to beat the shot clock and another by Matt Delzell - the devastated the Bruins.

When UCLA had to answer, it couldn't. Jason Kapono and Dijon Thompson each missed 3-pointers that would have tied the game in the final 30 seconds, and Delzell's two free throws with 8.1 seconds left sealed the victory.

When the game no longer was in doubt, USD fans up near the rafters began chanting ``over-rated,'' and when the buzzer made it official, San Diego players skipped around the court, repeating scenes by Pepperdine and Cal State Northridge the past two seasons.

The Bruins (0-1) owned an eight-point lead after Josiah Johnson made two free throws with 7:58 left. But San Diego crept back by pounding the ball inside.

Keep, on the bench when the Bruins surged to a 65-57 lead, re-entered and immediately went to work.

He scored on one layup and went to the foul line twice more when the Bruins couldn't guard him cleanly. San Diego finally got even at 71-71 when, with the Bruins packed in, guard Roy Smith hit a wide-open 3-pointer from the wing with 1:47 left.

T.J. Cummings then hit a pair of free throws to put UCLA ahead 73-71 with 1:33 left before Keep answered with another layup - his 30th point - with 1:10 left to knot it again.

Both teams missed shots, leaving the Bruins with the ball and 14 seconds left in regulation. They inbounded to Kapono, who ended up with an open 3-pointer from the wing. It bounced off the rim, off the hands of several Toreros and into the hands of Cedric Bozeman, but his jumper from inside the free-throw line was short at the buzzer.

Johnson, who played just 13 minutes all of last season, gave the Bruins a boost off the bench. With Keep on the bench for a rest, Johnson scored seven points in a two-minute stretch, including the first 3-pointer of his career.

The Bruins played with more energy than they did in either of their two exhibition losses, but it only got them so far.

Most notably, it couldn't mask their problems inside.

UCLA tried man, then zone, then man-to-man again but nothing seemed to deter the Toreros from either getting the ball inside to Keep, the 6-foot-10, 280-pound transfer from Oklahoma State.

The Bruins tried Cummings, Johnson and Fey without much success. Keep had 14 points on 5-of-5 shooting and seven rebounds in the first half.

When UCLA helped on the post, the Toreros simply swung the ball to the weakside or used screens at the free-throw line to get wide-open 3-pointers. They made just 5 of 19 3-pointers in the first half, but Delzell had three of the them.

The one thing UCLA can do is put the ball in the basket, and that it did. The Bruins made 17 of 31 shots in the first half, thanks in part to many backdoor plays.

Kapono, who scored only five points in the first exhibition loss and missed the other with a sprained thumb, returned to form early. He made 6 of 9 shots and scored 13 points in the first half. He also contributed five rebounds.

The first half went back and forth. UCLA took its biggest lead 15-10 on a 3-pointer by Ray Young. San Diego's biggest advantage was 34-30 on back-to-back 3-pointers by Delzell.

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Photo:

(color) UCLA's Jason Kapono, trying to get through traffic, scored 17 points before fouling out.

Andy Holzman/Staff Photographer