Nikola Dragovic smokes 6 three’s to spark the Bruins to a 15-point lead, before the Cougars go on the (Niko-tine) patch, and fly all the way back, but flame out, 61-59
The Cougars were able to put out a fire, but they still got burned.
UCLA’s Nikola Dragovic hit 6 three-pointers in the first half, and another shot early in the second to reach a career-high 20 points, before Washington State figured out that they had to adjust their Defense to stop the hot hand. For the last 17 minutes of the game, they held Drago scoreless, and came all the way back from 15 points down, to tie the score with five minutes left. For the second game in a row, UCLA suffered a horrible Offensive drought late in the game, allowing a beaten team to reawaken.
But THIS time, the Bruins refused to die. Despite the raucous Pullman crowd, UCLA controlled the end of the game. In crunchtime, Darren Collison made four straight points, and Alfred Aboya hit two straight crucial free throws to give the Bruins the advantage.
The Cougars had the ball at the end of the game down by only two, and for some inexplicable reason, they tried desperately to take a three-point shot for the WIN, instead of the tie. Shunning the old adage “Go for the win on the road, but a tie at home,” the Cougars blew their last two possessions, including a total brick at the buzzer, allowing the Bruins to escape from the Palouse with their remarkable 16th straight victory at Friel Court.
And meanwhile, in Seattle, the Washington Huskies, despite NO Field Goals from Jon Brockman, defeated the usc trojans, 78-73. The loss dropped troy to 3-3 in the Pac-10, already two games behind the conference-leading Bruins and Huskies. In their Defense, the trojans were missing their leading scorer Dwight Lewis, with an ankle sprain. Unfortunately for usc, Demar Derozan and Leonard Washington failed to step up in Lewis’ absence, as Demar disappeared after Halftime, and Lenny went 1-8 for the game.
It looks like the Bruins will have to play a lot better against Washington than they did in the second half against WSU, if they want to come out of the weekend with a sweep, and the undisputed lead in the Pac-10.
