Batista had 18 points and nine rebounds and Raivio added 12 points and six assists. Few said his team was “devastated” after the game but told them not to let 20 seconds dictate their whole season.

“It hurts real bad,” Raivio said. “The worst part is we shouldn’t have lost. We had them. They were ripe. The hardest part is losing a game you shouldn’t have lost.”

The loss by Gonzaga also brings an end to the season-long, cross-country scoring battle between Morrison and Duke’s J.J. Redick, who also lost Thursday. Morrison averaged 28.1 points, edging out Redick, who finished his senior season at 26.8.

Gonzaga took it right to UCLA from the start of a game billed as a showdown for West Coast supremacy. The Bulldogs, criticized much of the year for being a one-man team that plays little defense, proved those theories wrong early.

Using changing defenses and a full-court press at times to keep UCLA off-balance, Gonzaga forced the Bruins to miss their first eight shots and turn the ball over seven times before making their first basket 8:43 into the game to cut it to 18-9.

Things were so bad that both teams got into the bonus before UCLA made its first shot and after back-to-back turnovers against the Bulldogs press, Farmar looked at the bench and shrugged his shoulders looking for any help he could get.

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Morrison beat UCLA’s defensive stopper, Afflalo, with a one-hand runner in the lane on the first possession and talked trash as well, yelling “Let’s go Afflalo!” late in the half as if he was looking for a bigger challenge. That challenge game down the stretch.

The referees had to separate Morrison from Bozeman and Afflalo and different points in the game because play was getting too chippy.

The Bulldogs led 42-29 lead at the break, holding UCLA to 7-for-27 shooting, while making 15 of 26 on their end.