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James' surprise dunk leads Texas over No. 1 UCLA

Dec 3, 2007 - 4:57 AM LOS ANGELES (Ticker) -- Damion James answered the prayer tossed up by D.J. Augustin.

James dunked the last-ditch shot by Augustin with 8.6 seconds left as eighth-ranked Texas upset No. 1 Texas with a 63-61 victory in the Big 12/Pac-10 Hardwood Series on Sunday.

After the Bruins' Luc Richard Mbah a Moute had the front end of a 1-and-1 spin out with 29 seconds left, Augustin broke into the lane with more than 19 ticks later when he lost control of the ball.

The sophomore guard, however, managed to regain it near the right baseline and turned and threw up a desperation shot in one motion. The high-arching attempt missed the rim, but James jumped in from the weak side and dunked to break a 61-61 tie.

"I stumbled but I knew Damion was down there," Augustin said. "I threw it up for him to rebound and put it up or to finish it with a dunk; and that's what he did."

"We just just got beat on penetration and had to rotate over, allowing them an open dunk," UCLA coach Ben Howland said.

Darren Collison, who was making his first start for UCLA after missing the first six games of the season with a right knee injury, thought it was a busted play.

However, he believes that if he had played better defense, the nation's top team may have still been undefeated.

"I think if could've been, but I think we would've had a better chance of getting the possesion back had I stayed in front of him (Augustin) instead of reaching from behind," Collison said.

Despite being without a timeout, UCLA was able to get off a final attempt, but Mbah a Moute's 3-pointer from the right wing hit off the front of the rim.

James finished with 19 points along with Augustin as the Longhorns (7-0) captured their first win in three meetings with the Bruins.

"I'm happy how we handled the big-time atmosphere," Texas coach Rick Barnes said. "We play in a conference like UCLA, so we were ready for this type of atmosphere."

UCLA (7-1) fell behind early in this one, trailing 30-14 after Augustin connected on two straight jumpers with 5:04 remaining in the first half.

The Bruins, who had posted an average margin of victory of 23 points prior to this surprising loss, rallied at the start of the second half, going on a 13-2 burst to close within 39-38 on a 3-pointer by Russell Westbrook with 14:42 remaining.

UCLA took the lead less than two minutes later on a 3-pointer by Josh Shipp, but it could not put away the young Texas squad.

"We lost to a very good team," Howland said. "I was impressed with their athleticism and patience on offense. We had a great comeback after burying ourselves in the first half."

The Bruins went ahead 59-55 on a layup by Mbah a Moute with 3:09 remaining, but Augustin responded with a shot from the arc and Connor Atchley added another with 62 seconds left to knot the score at 61-61.

"They made big plays down the stretch, especially Augustin's huge shot when down four points," Howland said. "Unfortunately, we missed some free throws but you have to credit Texas. They did a good job of beating us off the dribble and scoring from the low post."

Mbah a Moute, who finished with 14 points, was fouled inside on UCLA's next possession, but failed to come through at the foul line.

Collison added 12 points and five assists and Josh Shipp and freshman Kevin Love scored 11 each for the Bruins, who shot 44.2 percent (23-of-52) and were outrebounded, 34-28.