3/20/1976

By BRUCE JOHNSTON
Citizen Sportswriler

LOS ANGELES — A dejected Al Fleming forgot for a moment the pain of losing to UCLA and the end of an illustrious college basketball career, leaning over to give sophomore Phil Taylor some encouragement for next year.

Taylor listened attentively, they traded handshakes and then Fleming, as if to turn over the mantle of leadership that he had worn for the University of Arizona team, told Taylor, "I've got a lot of confidence in you for next year. You can do it."

Thus ended an exciting season for UA basketball, with hopes for titles yet to come.

The Cats wound up their season with a 24-9 record; they were Western Athletic Conference champs for the first time; they were conquerors of third-ranked and once beaten Nevada-Las Vegas in the regional semifinals; and they made it to the final eight of the NCAA tournament.

That UA lost its final game of the season, 82-66, to defending national champion UCLA (26-4) in the West Regional final Saturday on the Bruins' home court, was no disgrace.

It was frustrating, though. The Cats had tied UCLA 58-58 with 8:21 left in the game.

Then the well just went dry.

UCLA got hot, UA went cold; UCLA found its fast break, UA found only turnovers. The Bruins ran off 12 straight points and UA didn't score for more than six minutes. That was the game.

It was a victory in typical Bruin championship fashion. The largely partisan crowd of 12,549 at Pauley Pavilion certainly sensed that. They had seen it so many times before: A team hangs in with UCLA until midway through the second half, then a UCLA spurt puts the game away.

Twice the Bruins gained leads of five points in the second half and the Pauley crowd livened. It was as if the UCLA fans sensed blood. But UA battled back both times to tie behind the superb rebounding and shooting of Fleming and junior Herman Harris. How long could UA keep it up?

Momentum at the time seemed in the balance. But the Cats never regained the lead and the next UCLA move got the jugular.

"We never could take the lead," said UA junior center Bob Elliott. "There was no doubt about it, momentum was with us (at 58-58). If we could have taken the lead, that would have changed things."

"We had our cracks at it," said UA coach Fred Snowden, "but the ball didn't fall. We did not make the clutch basket when we had to . . . We couldn't get to the point where we took command."

UCLA guard Andre McCarter put it this way: "The reason the game turned around was just a case of circumstances. We got the calls and we had a burst at the right time like we usually do."

Maybe the Cats were tired and let down from that hardfought, 114-109, overtime victory over Las Vegas Thursday night. Maybe they never would have overcome the injury to senior guard Jim Rappis that left the Cats with only a three-legged backcourt.

The fact remains, though, that UCLA is a team with some awesome talent, especially in forwards Richard Washington and Marques Johnson. The Cats slugged it out toe to toe with the Bruins for 32 minutes, but UCLA played 40 minutes of good, solid basketball.

Elliott wasn't very successful at stopping All-American Washington, who is as graceful a man of 6-foot-10 as you'll ever see. When Snowden ordered a zone defense in the first half, it slowed Washington, but sophomore guard Ray Townsend just picked up the slack from the outside and UA; went back to a man-to-man defense.

In the end, Arizona, and particularly Elliott, found the talented Washington virtually indefensible and his mate Johnson nearly so.

But for a long time, UA presented exactly the same problems for UCLA. Taylor was very tough underneath the basket in the early going. Harris did his best to shoot UCLA out of its zone defense.

But the best moments for the Cats in this game belonged to senior forward Fleming. For a stretch he almost carried UA by himself, grabbing everything off the defensive boards and keepting the ball alive under the offensive boards. Fleming, Harris and Rappis all were named to the all-tourney team.

There is no doubt that the injury to Rappis was a big factor in the game. His shooting was far off his Las Vegas performance and his defense was a liability. The coaching staff and his teammates had to compensate greatly for him.

"We had to give something to get something," said Snowden, explaining that in playing Rappis he was willing to give up the scoring for the leadership he provides the team. "We needed him to quarterback."

Rappis sat after the game with an ice pack on the splotchy red bruise that covered the arch of his left foot. He needed the aid of crutches to leave Pauley Pavilion.

And he wondered whether he should have even played.

"I don't know whether I should have played at all. It might have cost us the game. We might have done better with somebody else in there," said Rappis. "But I'm just grateful to coach for letting me play today. He didn't have to play me, but he did."