Bruins Savor Win In WSU’s Finest Hour

This is the new UCLA, all right.

Not only do the Bruins make the plays to win in the final seconds, but then they do their damnedest to persuade you that they just scaled Everest with a backpack full of bowling balls.

This is what passed for comic relief on a Saturday afternoon of bitter disappointment for the Washington State Cougars, who assayed a new vein in their mother lode of ways to lose to UCLA and again came up with pure gold.

This time it was Cameron Dollar, the poor man’s Tyus Edney, driving half the length of the floor in the final 4.5 seconds for the layup that beat Wazzu, 87-86. If it didn’t seem as if the Bruins had the time to get that much done after Isaac Fontaine’s two free throws had given WSU a one-point lead, Dollar was undaunted.

“I’ve seen an old friend of mine do it before,” he said, “so I knew I had enough time.”

He meant Edney’s mad dash to beat Missouri that kept UCLA on track to win the 1995 NCAA Championship. But he’s also been witness to enough history in this series to know that unless the obit’s in the paper, the Bruins aren’t dead.

Didn’t they come from nine points down in the final 4 minutes to win in overtime last year in Spokane? Didn’t Jim Harrick make it a refereeing foursome in an 81-79 victory two years before that? Haven’t the Bruins - in the Harrick/Steve Lavin era - now won in Pullman by 1, 2, 4, 8, 4 and 1?

So what was a piddly five-point deficit with 2 minutes to play? Surely the ninth-ranked Bruins were going to rally and make this their closing argument for Selection Sunday.

But it’s not enough for the Bruins just to be respected anymore. Lavin, the poor man’s Steve Fisher, wants us to love them as well.

“Overcoming adversity, overcoming hurdles, overcoming obstacles - this team just shows an amazing amount of character,” he said, “reflected in our players’ ability to do so well under adverse conditions.”

The adversity being what? That the Bruins start only four future NBA players and not five?

Hard to believe they can cope.

“And it’s not just one individual,” Lavin went on, “it’s everybody doing it together.”

Great. A sequel to “The Waltons.”

In fairness, there is much to like about the Lavin influence on these Bruins. Which is why, presumably, athletic director Peter Dalis removed the “interim” from Lavin’s title a month ago, and not just to spite Harrick, who opined rather cattily that UCLA wouldn’t stick with his young successor.

But Saturday underscored how much there was to like about this Cougar team - as well as what there was to regret.

The Cougars were wrapping up a 13-17 season - their first loser in eight years - and yet somehow summoned perhaps their best hour in what could have been a meaningless getaway, save for the sentiment of Senior Day.

Fontaine torched the Bruins for 33 points, topping the 2,000 mark for his career, though his shadow, Toby Bailey, and his mates didn’t bust much hump denying Ike the ball. He was also Wazzu’s best passer and best thief on this day, and other than an unfortunate turnover in the final minute made every crucial play.

Rodrigo de la Fuente - mostly anonymous in the context of the season - had a breakout afternoon, 18 points and 12 rebounds. Carlos Daniel had his routine 16-and-9 and, well, the hell with numbers. The Cougars took it straight at UCLA all afternoon - not just with a nothingto-lose abandon, but a damn-right-we-can-win determination. And everybody who played did something right.

But not enough.

Occasionally, a prediction will hold up as an epitaph, and that was it this basketball season for Wazzu.

And though Cougar coach Kevin Eastman called it “the most overachieving, fun group that I’ve been associated with,” the reality is the Cougs beat maybe two teams it shouldn’t have (Cal and Oregon) and lost to three it shouldn’t have (Montana, Idaho, Oregon State). That’s a wash. Maybe there’s someone out there who expected worse than a 5-13 finish in the Pac-10. If so, step forward.

Beating UCLA would have altered that notion a good bit, but the Cougars didn’t have enough tools to overcome the real adversity - the talent gap, a missed free throw and a turnover by Steve Slotemaker in the final 27 seconds and the Bruins being sent to the foul line 34 times despite playing from behind the entire second half. Adding to the absurdity was referee Tom Wood hallucinating that Daniel’s fifth foul was intentional, which led to a point the Bruins shouldn’t have had.

“You’ve got to play through those things,” Fontaine insisted, “so you’re not in a position where it comes down to a last shot.”

Or, in UCLA’s case, so it does.

“It’s not arrogance or cockiness,” said Dollar, “but you put in your time and do the things you’re supposed to do, you expect to come out on top.”

Let’s see him explain that to Ike Fontaine.

, DataTimes The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = John Blanchette The Spokesman-Review