Ucla Gets Its Money’s Worth From Dollar

In UCLA basketball lore, it’s called “The Tyus Edney Ploy.”

It takes a point guard with nerve to pull it off. He has to dribble the length of the court against the clock with seconds left and squeeze out a buzzer-beating, game-winning shot.

Cameron Dollar was a sophomore on the UCLA team two years ago when he watched Edney dribble from end to end and beat Missouri in an NCAA West Regional game.

Dollar never forgot the lesson he learned.

Dollar’s 4-foot bank shot with 1.9 seconds left after he dribbled through the Iowa State team gave the Bruins a 74-73 overtime win Thursday night and set up a Midwest Regional final against top-seeded Minnesota today at San Antonio.

“He’s just finds ways to win,” UCLA coach Steve Lavin said. “Because of his heart, toughness and intelligence, he’s able to overcome everything he lacks.

“He doesn’t have the greatest physical skills. He couldn’t jump over two Ritz crackers. But he’s like (former Oakland quarterback) Jim Plunkett. He has the heart and intelligence of a winner.”

Dollar, a 5-foot-11 senior, said the Edney maneuver isn’t for the faint of heart.

Dollar, who had a career-high 20 points against Iowa State, also dribbled the length of the floor and scored two weeks ago, beating Washington State 87-86.

“You have to have courage to take the chance,” Dollar said Friday. “I’ve never been afraid to take the last shot.

All-Americans indirectly face off

Kentucky’s Ron Mercer and Utah’s Keith Van Horn, two-fifths of the All-America team, go against each other one more time as college players today before heading to a future of duels in the NBA.

Mercer, a 6-7 sophomore with a slashing style, is quicker. Van Horn, a 6-10 senior, can play with equal effectiveness under the boards or from the outside. Both have silky touches on jumpers, and both are willing to sacrifice their bodies by bumping up against opponents.

When they meet today in the NCAA West Regional at San Jose, Calif., for a berth in the Final Four, they won’t be guarding each other man-to-man. But each knows that he is the go-to guy for his team, the player who must score, must rebound, must lead from start to finish. In that respect, Mercer and Van Horn will be well aware of outplaying the other, trying to assert dominance.

But as they prepared for the game Friday, they each took the emphasis off themselves and put it on their teams as a whole.

“It’s going to take a team effort to stop him,” Mercer said of Van Horn. “We’ll be switching off, different players on him at different times. The way we play defense, he’ll probably think everyone’s guarding him.”

Loyola Marymount hires Bradley

Charles Bradley, the second-leading scorer in University of Wyoming history and a first-round pick of the Boston Celtics in the 1981 NBA draft, became coach at Loyola Marymount.

Bradley, 37, succeeds John Olive, who resigned March 5 after five seasons.

Bradley, who played three years in the NBA with the Celtics and Seattle SuperSonics, spent the past three seasons as coach at Metropolitan State College, an NCAA Division II school in Denver.

If Tennessee is interested in Chattanooga Mocs coach Mack McCarthy, it may have to get in line.

Memphis and LSU also want to talk with McCarthy.

Memphis forced out coach Larry Finch in January and Tulsa coach Steve Robinson turned down the job on Thursday. Dale Brown retired from LSU after 25 seasons and Mississippi coach Rob Evans declined that slot on Wednesday.

Colorado officials remain confident Ricardo Patton will stay in Boulder, Colo., despite a lucrative offer to become the new head coach at the University of Memphis.

Television stations in Memphis and Denver reported that Memphis offered Patton a five-year contract worth $400,000 a year to replace Larry Finch, who resigned at the end of the season.