St. John's University Athletics
Glover, Hatten Lead St. John's Past UCLA, 80-65
1/11/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- St. John's found a valuable reward at the end of its 3,000-mile trip from the East Coast.
Senior guard Marcus Hatten (Baltimore, Md.) scored 23 points and the Red Storm easily dismissed UCLA's lone run in the second half to beat the fading Bruins 80-65 Saturday.
``When you win at the most famous college arena in the world, it's well worth it,'' St. John's coach Mike Jarvis said. ``Even though UCLA is not having a great year, this is a huge win for our program. We held up to the pressure of playing UCLA at Pauley Pavilion on national television and we'll have a nice trip home.''
The Red Storm (8-4) won their fifth straight over UCLA in the teams' first meeting since 1987, when they also won at Pauley, 72-64.
``UCLA is still a magic name,'' Hatten said. ``When I got here, I looked at the rafters in amazement. I was trying to count all the national championships and I couldn't believe it.''
Graduate student Anthony Glover (Bronx, N.Y.) added 22 points for St. John's, which led by 12 at halftime and allowed UCLA to get no closer than six points in the second half. ``Glover did a good job. He played hard and aggressive. He's a 6-foot-5 warrior,'' Jarvis said. ``We are not that big, but we play big.''
Jason Kapono scored 22 points to lead UCLA, who fell to 4-7 and lost its second straight game overall and fell to 2-5 at Pauley. UCLA made just nine of 27 shots in the first half and its 23 points were a season low. Junior Kyle Cuffe (Bronx, N.Y.) added 11 points and 12 rebounds for St. John's, winners of three of its last four games. It was the second-straight double-double for Cuffe, and his third this season. Despite Cuffe being the only starter standing 6-foot-7, the Red Storm controlled the boards 43-34 and outhustled the Bruins to loose balls.
``UCLA tried to come out and run with us,'' Glover said. ``They tried to do what we do and they got tired. They can't keep up with us.''
The Bruins' strongest sustained play of the second half came in a 15-4 run that left them trailing 44-38 with 12:54 remaining. Kapono hit his first three-pointer of the game and scored off his own steal and T.J. Cummings added four points.
Cummings had 17 for UCLA, which shot 52 percent in the second half.
But the Red Storm responded with 10 straight points as part of a 13-2 run for their largest lead of the game, 57-40 with 8:42 remaining. Glover got things started by scoring inside, then dunked off a steal and later scored five straight points.
``Our key to winning is having a balanced team and to work together,'' Hatten said. ``We didn't worry at all about UCLA's record or if they were tired. We only worried about ourselves.''
The Red Storm scored 11 points over the final 1:40, including seven free throws.
Sophomores Eric King (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and Tristan Smith (Amityville, N.Y.) scored seven points and grabbed four rebounds, respectively, while freshman guard Elijah Ingram (East Orange, N.J.) scored 10 points, had four assists, two rebounds and two steals.
St. John's returns home on Wednesday, hosting Villanova at Madison Square Garden.
