Bruins Recapture the Crown : College basketball: UCLA gets it together in second half against Arizona State and clinches first Pacific 10 championship since 1987.

A few minutes before Saturday’s game at Pauley Pavilion, UCLA learned that it would have to defeat Arizona State to claim sole possession of the Pacific 10 Conference championship.

A loss would force the Bruins to share the title with USC, which defeated Arizona at the Sports Arena while the starters were being introduced in Westwood.

But that realization didn’t seem to register with the Bruins.

They glided through the first half, giving up dunk after dunk to the Sun Devils, who took advantage of the Bruins’ largess to make 66.7% of their first-half shots and stay even until halftime.

In the second half, however, the Bruins seemed to realize what was on the line and they pulled away to win, 85-77, before 12,317.

UCLA captain Gerald Madkins said that Coach Jim Harrick’s halftime address to the team was simple: “No more dunks.”

The eighth-ranked Bruins switched from a man-to-man defense to a 2-3 zone at the start of the second half, Arizona State missed 10 of its next 12 shots and UCLA hit the Sun Devils with a 13-0 run to take control.

The Bruins made 65.2% of their shots in the second half and limited Arizona State to 41.9% shooting while improving to 25-4 overall, 16-2 in the Pac-10.

The Bruins finished a game ahead of USC to claim their first conference title since 1987, only their third since 1979, and earn at least a No. 2 seeding in the NCAA tournament, perhaps a No. 1.

“It’s good to bring something back to Westwood that hasn’t been here (in five years),” Madkins said. “I’m just very, very happy--excited going into the tournament. Hopefully, we’ll get that No. 1 seed and go from there.”

Arizona State (18-13, 9-9) hopes to attract an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament.

A victory over UCLA probably would have assured it, but the Sun Devils never recovered after the Bruins took a 61-51 lead.

“We did a bad job of attacking the zone because we did not work hard enough to get it inside and we shot the three too quickly,” Arizona State Coach Bill Frieder said. “After we got that straightened out, we did a good job.”

But it was too late.

Although the Sun Devils made 11 of 19 shots the rest of the way, they never got closer than 68-65.

It was 72-67 when Tracy Murray scored on a layup off a pass from Madkins to start a 13-4 run that put the Bruins out of reach.

“I’ve got no complaints about my team,” Frieder said. “We played our butts off but ran out of gas. We had about a five-minute stretch in the second half where we didn’t play well, but that’s as good as you’re going to see us play.”

Arizona State made 54.1% of its shots, but UCLA made 59.6% and outrebounded the Sun Devils, 35-20, taking 17 offensive rebounds, eight by Murray.

“We didn’t play our best basketball in the first half, but that’s because ASU played very well,” Madkins said. “They missed a few shots (at the start of the second half), we got the lead and we just held on until the end.”

Senior forward Don MacLean, playing his final game in Westwood, led the Bruins with 25 points, making 10 of 16 shots.

Murray added 22 points and 13 rebounds, making nine of 13 shots.

Freshman point guard Tyus Edney, who will make his first start in the NCAA tournament, scored 10 points, all in the second half, and had seven assists in 30 minutes.

Freshman Mario Bennett made 10 of 13 shots and scored 20 points to lead Arizona State.

“They certainly played awfully well,” Harrick said of the Sun Devils, who were beaten by the Bruins, 83-62, two months ago at Tempe. “They’re a lot different team than they were when we went down there.”

Bruin Notes

The last time UCLA won the Pac-10 championship, it was upset by Wyoming, 78-68, in the second round of the NCAA tournament. When the Bruins won the Pac-10 title in 1983, they lost to Utah, 67-61, in the first round of the NCAA tournament. . . . Said senior captain Gerald Madkins, given a loud ovation by the students when he cut down one of the nets afterward: “It shows that the Pauley Pavilion fans appreciate me more than I thought. It felt good to be appreciated for doing the little things.”

Said UCLA Coach Jim Harrick, whose teams won four conference championships in his nine seasons at Pepperdine: “It’s nice to win this thing. You go 16-2 in any 10-team league and that’s a great accomplishment.”

Arizona State Coach Bill Frieder, on the Pac-10: “If the league would have been this tough when I was offered the Arizona State job, I would have stayed at Michigan, where I was going to win 20 games and be in the (NCAA) tournament every year. I came to Arizona State because it wasn’t considered a tough league at the time.”

* UNFINISHED BUSINESS

Senior Don MacLean, UCLA’s all-time leading scorer, says his college career will be incomplete without a trip to the Final Four. C4

* LEFT OUT

Darrick Martin’s parents decline to participate in Senior Day activities at the urging of their son, who was demoted as a starter this season. C4