Feb. 17, 2001
By BETH HARRIS
AP Sports Writer
LOS ANGELES - It's easy for Billy Knight to be the forgotten man on a UCLA team loaded with offensive weapons. Arizona State certainly overlooked him.
Knight scored a career-high 23 points as the 24th-ranked Bruins escaped with a 73-68 victory over the scrappy Sun Devils on Saturday.
"He's a great shooter," said Arizona State guard Kyle Dodd, one of five players to foul out. "He's just one of those guys you forget about sometimes."
The Bruins (17-6, 10-2 Pac-10) won their fifth straight as Knight, Earl Watson and Ray Young made nine of 12 free throws in the final 3:22 when UCLA's lead teetered between two and four points.
"When I didn't play that much, I used to look at my score," said Knight, who's started nine of 23 games. "Now I don't look. I concentrate on defense and rebounding."
Watson added 15 points and a career-high eight steals, but had six of UCLA's 22 turnovers in a sloppy game that saw Arizona State commit 23 turnovers and lose its 15th straight at Pauley Pavilion.
"You don't care how you win as long as you get the `W,"' Watson said, "but we've got to clean things up. If we're going to do well, I've got to take care of the ball better."
Awvee Storey led the Sun Devils (11-13, 3-10) with 26 points, tying his career high, and grabbed 15 rebounds. For the first time in five games, the Bruins were outrebounded, 39-28.
"We need more consistency," he said. "We haven't had that this year."
The Bruins were coming off an emotional overtime upset of No. 8 Arizona on Thursday, and they struggled from the start as Arizona State scored the game's first 10 points and led by 12 in the first half.
"We found a way to win, it wasn't really impressive," UCLA coach Steve Lavin said. "I was concerned about fatigue. It's hard to manufacture emotion that's inherent in an Arizona-UCLA game, but a mature team has to find a way to win."
Especially when starters Matt Barnes and Jason Kapono foul out. Dan Gadzuric, who had 22 points and 17 rebounds against Arizona, got in early foul trouble and failed to score.
"They were calling a lot of fouls," said Kapono, who was held to nine points. "It was a sloppy game and you couldn't get into a rhythm."
Gadzuric's sprained left ankle was stiff during the pre-game shootaround. After the game, he strapped on the walking boot he's been wearing since Wednesday.
"I just feel swelling," he said. "I'm going to go live in the training room."
Watson scored UCLA's first two baskets of the second half, putting the Bruins ahead by 11. They would never reach double-digits the rest of the game as Arizona State cut the deficit to one three times, but couldn't take the lead.
Ahead by one, the Bruins scored seven straight points to go up 55-47 as the Sun Devils saw Dodd, Tommy Smith and Donnell Knight foul out late.
Storey managed just two baskets in the final 6:42, when the Sun Devils were forced to foul and the Bruins proved to be consistent at the free throw line.
"I thought my team came out and gave an extreme effort. We were in position to win the basketball game," Sun Devils coach Rob Evans said. "UCLA is at home and fighting for the (Pac-10) championship. I thought we did a great job of fighting off their runs and getting back in the game."
Jonathan Howard scored inside to draw Arizona State within two for the last time with 1:38 remaining, but Knight scored and then got fouled going for a rebound at Arizona State's end. He made one of two free throws, then Watson made two of four to close out the game.
Storey scored 11 of Arizona State's first 21 points.
The Bruins were down by six points when Watson left with a cut on his head. He took two stitches and returned in the middle of a 16-2 spurt that gave UCLA its first lead of the game, 25-23, with 6:26 remaining.
The Bruins got back into the game by stepping up their full-court press that forced the Sun Devils into hurrying their shots. Turnovers, missed shots and a technical on Dodd for pushing Barnes added to Arizona State's woes.