GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) – Steve Lavin sent a message to his team
by benching two starters for skipping study hall. UCLA responded
the same way it has all season – by winning.
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Saturday,
March 17
The reason the Bruins sent
Utah State to the sidelines was a great defensive effort that kept the Aggies without any field goals for 13½ minutes. The Bruins also got
super offense from the 1-2 combination of Jason Kapono and Dan Gadzuric,
whose stock keeps going up and up. He had 16 points and 14 rebounds after
having 14 points and 13 rebounds in UCLA's tournament opener.
Kapono was late for study hall and didn't start the game. Steve Lavin made
sure Kapono knew he wouldn't tolerate it. But when Kapono entered the game,
he did was he does best, knocking down five big threes.
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Jason Kapono scored 15 of his 19 points on 3-pointers to lead
the fourth-seeded Bruins to a 75-50 victory over Utah State on
Saturday in the second round of the NCAA East Regional.
Kapono and forward Matt Barnes both started the game on the
bench as punishment for leaving Friday's study hall session an hour
early. It was a risky move by Lavin, who could have ended some of
the speculation on his job security by taking the Bruins into the
round of 16.
"I promise parents when I recruit kids that they will be held
accountable," Lavin said. "Coach (John) Wooden always said `The
greatest motivation in college basketball is the bench.' I hope
these kids learned from it."
Kapono seemed to have learned his lesson. On the court he hit
5-of-7 3-pointers, off of it he defended Lavin's decision.
"Rules are rules and me and Matt broke them," he said. "It
was stupid and coach had every right to do what he did. I'm just
lucky it worked out."
It worked out for the Bruins, who advanced to play top-seeded
Duke (31-4) next week in Philadelphia.
And it worked out for Lavin, who improved to 9-4 in NCAA
Tournament games and brought the Bruins (23-8) into the round of 16
for the fourth time in his five years as coach.
|  | | UCLA's Dan Gadzuric, left, had his second consecutive double-double. |
"If I'm going to struggle, this is a group I want to struggle
with," Lavin said. "This is the first full wave of kids who came
in with me as a head coach and I'm proud of that. This is a team of
old souls."
Earl Watson, a senior who Lavin had to talk out of transferring
three times during his career, was one of the first players to grab
the coach for a long embrace when Lavin pulled his starters with
1:30 to play. Kapono and Barnes, who finished with nine points and
eight rebounds, both joined in.
"He's our leader, like our father," Watson said. "We have a
lot of loyalty and that's what that hug was about. We protect our
family."
Watson finished with 16 points and nine assists and Dan Gadzuric
dominated the post with 16 points and 14 rebounds.
Shawn Daniels scored 11 points to lead Utah State, which
struggled to score in the first half and folded under UCLA's
full-court press in the second half.
"It seemed like we came out scared as a team," Utah State
center Dimitri Jorssen said. "We had this worry that they were
these great athletes – and don't get me wrong they're a very
talented basketball team – but we were kind of fearing them in a
way that was not needed."
Utah State (28-6) had no problems with the Bruins' vaunted press
in the first half, when the Aggies could easily move the ball
across the court. But they struggled to hit shots, missing 22
consecutive attempts over a 14-minute span while falling into a
24-11 hole.
They finally ended the drought on Curtis Bobb's 3-pointer with
2:54 left in the half and only trailed 30-19 at the break.
"That's what makes us feel worse, that even though we did not
play good, we were in the game for a long time," Jorssen said.
"I'll always wonder what would have happened if we had played like
we always play. Not even great, just like we usually play."
UCLA backed off the press at the start of the second half and
Utah State didn't have to work so hard for offense – the Aggies
opened the period with a 13-4 run to cut it to 34-30 on Bernard
Rock's 3-pointer with 13:27 to play.
That's when UCLA turned up the heat and Utah State couldn't
adjust. The Bruins didn't allow Utah State to get the ball past
midcourt on three straight possessions and converted all three
turnovers into an explosive six-point spurt.
Gadzuric had a thundering dunk to start the run. Rock then
turned the ball over in a double-team right outside the 3-point
line and Barnes turned it into a UCLA layup.
Daniels then threw away the inbound pass as he desperately
looked for an open man, Barnes got the ball and tossed it in for
49-36 lead.
Kapono sealed the game after Daniels missed a fast-break dunk.
The Bruins got the rebound and threw a full-court pass to Kapono,
who hit a 3-pointer for a 53-38 lead with 7:09 to play.
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ALSO SEE
Men's College Basketball Scoreboard
Utah State Clubhouse
UCLA Clubhouse
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Earl Watson looks ahead to UCLA's matchup with top-seeded Duke (Courtesy: NCAA Productions).
wav: 136 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Coach Stew Morrill finds it tough to win when you miss 22 shots in a row (Courtesy: NCAA Productions).
wav: 108 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
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