UCLA Turns a Dream to Dust, Tops Cal State Fullerton, 72-71

It seemed like such perfect timing.

Cal State Fullerton had longed for a chance to meet UCLA, had longed for an opportunity to prove that the have-nots can play as well as the haves.

When the Titans’ chance finally came Monday night, it seemed to have arrived at the best of times. Everything was going well at Fullerton, while the Bruins appeared to be struggling.

But UCLA, shorthanded in both manpower and confidence, pieced together just enough points to escape with a 72-71, nonconference victory in front of a capacity crowd of 12,352 at Pauley Pavilion.

The Bruins’ Charles Rochelin, playing with 19 stitches in his chin, had 17 points and 6 rebounds, while Reggie Miller, spending much of the game at guard, scored 14 points, including the decisive free throws with 17 seconds to play.

The victory, only UCLA’s third since an 89-84 upset over North Carolina on Dec. 1, improved the Bruins’ record to 5-4. Fullerton, ranked 20th in last week’s United Press International coaches’ poll, dropped to 7-2.

Fullerton made its Pauley Pavilion debut riding a seven-game winning streak. Included in that streak were five straight wins over teams that played in post-season tournaments last March. The Bruins entered the game in a state of unrest.

Among other things, UCLA was fighting a slight shortage of players. Junior forward Craig Jackson and senior guard Montel Hatcher were both in street clothes at the end of the Bruin bench, but for different reasons.

Hatcher was still a little groggy from a collision with Rochelin in last Saturday’s 67-65 win over Cal State Long Beach. Rochelin was in the starting lineup for only the second time this season, but Hatcher apparently got the worst of the collision. Jackson was back with the team after missing the Long Beach game. UCLA officials would say only that Jackson had to return to his Denver home for “personal reasons.”

The absence of Hatcher and Jackson left UCLA Coach Walt Hazzard shorthanded, and forced him to play Miller at guard. All of this would seem to work to Fullerton’s advantage, Titan Coach George McQuarn figured.

“I thought we had an edge on them . . . that we were in a position to beat them,” McQuarn said. “I had watched them play the last two or three ball games, but they were a different team tonight.”

UCLA trailed, 29-27, at halftime but outscored the Titans, 15-4, at the outset of the second half to take a 42-35 lead. The Titans were forced to play catch-up and, with their two top scorers both struggling to find their jump shots, they could not do so.

Richard Morton and Henry Turner came into the game averaging more than 34 points a game between them. Turner finished with a game-high 21 points, but was 8 of 23 from the field. Morton was 3 of 13, including 1 of 8 from three-point range, and finished with 8 points.

McQuarn thought Morton’s performance was affected by Miller’s verbal defense, something he is reputed to play quite well.

“Richard has to learn that when you come up to this level, you have to be able to perform,” McQuarn said. “I thought Reggie took him out of his game a couple of times verbally. With about five minutes to go, I took him out specifically because of that.”

Morton’s only three-point basket cut UCLA’s lead to 59-54 with 4:20 to play, but UCLA made 8 of 10 free throws down the stretch to hold on. Freshman forward Trevor Wilson, who finished with 13 points, provided three critical points by grabbing a rebound and taking it end to end for a layup, drawing a foul and making the ensuing free throw to give UCLA a 68-60 lead with 1:50 to play.

“We can’t let things like that happen,” McQuarn said. “I don’t think we played very smart. I don’t think we played poorly, I just don’t think we played smart.”

Someone asked Hazzard about the difference between the Bruin team that beat Fullerton and the one that staggered to the win over Long Beach.

“I’d like to hear that answer myself,” said McQuarn, who attended the Long Beach game.

“Hey, Long Beach is a good team,” said Hazzard, who was McQuarn’s roommate when they attended UCLA in the mid-sixties. “We beat a good basketball team tonight. We needed to prove we could win a close game. I feel a lot better about our team after two wins. My food will taste better tomorrow.”

Fullerton’s consolation is that it completed a rather ambitious nonconference schedule with only two losses by a total of two points.

But this was the game the Titans had been waiting for, and it came at a time when they thought they had everything going their way.