Iamaleava overcomes injury to spark UCLA win

Late drive caps the third consecutive triumph for Bruins

- BY BEN BOLCH

UCLA's Mateen Bhaghani (94) celebrates with teammates after kicking a 23-yard field goal to win the game in the final seconds.

(HARRY HOW Getty Images)

Tim Skipper took a deep breath. What else could he do?

His quarterback had just clutched his right knee and needed assistance to make it off the field with a little more than two minutes left in a taut game in which his team appeared on the verge of losing its magic touch. Skipper had been in enough of these situations to know that sometimes injuries that look scary turn out just fine, so the UCLA interim coach inhaled and waited for the medical staff to render a verdict.

Once Skipper saw Nico Iamaleava starting to walk around the Rose Bowl sideline, his facial expression no longer transfixed in a grimace, the coach figured a team in need of a late break might get one.

"I was like, man, we have a shot here, we have a shot," Skipper said. "And then they cleared him and I was like, all right, let's go."

Having already engineered one fourth-quarter scoring drive, Iamaleava needed to lead another with the score tied against Maryland and 35 seconds left Saturday evening.

In just four plays, a warpspeed drive that started at UCLA's 27-yard line ended at the Maryland 5 after two pass completions and a hard-charging run by Anthony Frias II in which the reserve running back refused to be brought down, spinning and breaking tackles on the way to a 35-yard gain.

Kicker Mateen Bhaghani took it from there, nailing a 23-yard field goal with two seconds left to give the Bruins a 20-17 victory after the Terrapins couldn't conjure a miracle on the ensuing kickoff.

And so the fun rolls on for a team that has gone from 0-4 to the cusp of .500 after a third consecutive victory.