SAN ANTONIO, Texas — The overtime clock read: 1.9 seconds. The scoreboard read: 74-73, not in Iowa State’s favor.

Cyclone forward Klay Edwards ran the baseline, looking for anyone open down court. Edwards had five seconds to inbound the ball. He ran: one tick, two tick, three tick — still running; still looking — four tick, five tick.

Five’s too many. UCLA ball. Game over. Cyclones lose: 74-73. Season over.

Some thought it was a fast five seconds.

Head Coach Tim Floyd was bewildered.

“I can’t say what I think, because I have a feeling I would get in trouble,” Floyd said.

Senior guard and team leader Dedric Willoughby was more candid.

“If I had five seconds of my life to give again, I would not have that ref make that call,” he said.

“We practice it every day, and it takes 3.5 seconds.”

A solid game plan, Iowa State senior Dedric Willoughby’s 34 points and an overtime period wasn’t enough.

The Cyclones fell to the UCLA Bruins, 74-73 early this morning. The loss effectively ended ISU’s season and the team’s bid to advance to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament.

“I give UCLA credit. They had a great comeback in the second half,” Floyd said. “The rebounding was the biggest difference.”

ISU looked like champion horses out of the gate, running Head Coach Tim Floyd’s plan of slowing the pace down nearly to perfection.

UCLA Head Coach Steve Lavin had nothing but praise for the ISU coach, who made his first appearance in the Sweet 16.

“I can see why the Chicago Bulls are hot after Tim Floyd. He is one of the hottest coaches in the country. I admire him and aspire to be like him as a young coach. He represents everything good at Iowa State.”

The Cyclones quickly built a five-point lead with 18 minutes left in the first half on a Dedric Willoughby three-pointer.

After UCLA point guard Cameron Dollar answered with a short jumper, it was was Willoughby connecting on another three-point bucket while getting fouled. Willoughby’s free throw brought the score to 11-4 with 17:22 to play in the half.

The Willoughby three-point barrage continued as the senior guard nailed his third trey of the game to build a 16-8 lead.

After a couple of Bruin free throws by Charles O’Bannon, ISU countered with a Kenny Pratt layup to bring the score to 18-10 with 13:33 to play.

It was now senior point guard Jacy Holloway’s turn at the three-pointer, connecting to build a 21-12 lead.

The margin grew fatter as Pratt then answered with a bucket to bring the score to 23-12 with 12:28 showing on the first-half clock.

ISU went into halftime confident.

The Cyclones built a 16-point lead at one point in the second half, but UCLA battled back.

It was ISU center Calvin Cato with a monstrous dunk to begin the second half, a big-time block by Cato and a layup by Bankhead to bring the score to 41-26.

A dunk by McCoy and a free throw by Baily brought the Bruins closer at 43-20 with 17:12 to play.

Then the roof fell as UCLA forced ISU into a transition game.

A layup and back-to-back three-pointers by Dollar and another field goal brought the Bruins within six points at 40-46 with 13:26 left in the game.

It was Willoughby who finally got the Cyclones back on track with his sixth three-pointer of the game to put ISU back on top by seven points, 49-42.

But UCLA’s Baily answered with a three-pointer to bring the tally to 49-45 with 10:25 to play.

Jumpers by Dollar and UCLA star Charles O’Bannon brought the Bruins within one point at 52-51 midway through the 7-minute mark.

With 6:53 left on the clock, O’Bannon gave UCLA its first lead of the game at 53-52 with a short jumper.

See-saw action finally showed its face as each team exchanged free throws and layups for nearly 4 minutes.

After a bucket by Baily, the Cyclones answered with Willoughby’s seventh three-pointer to give the Cyclones a one-point lead.

But that lead was short-lived as Dollar hit a couple short jumpers to put UCLA up by three points with 28 seconds to play. Willoughby once more answered with his record-tying eighth three-pointer of the contest to tie it up at 64-64.

Dollar then traveled, leaving ISU with one last attempt by Holloway, a from-the-hip shot, that fell short.

Into overtime they went.

UCLA quickly built a four-point lead on an O’Bannon layup.

A bigger scare than losing came with 1:41 left in overtime when Pratt knocked his head against O’Bannon’s elbow and collapsed.

He later returned.

A left-handed jumper by Edwards left ISU trailing by two when the Cyclones got the ball back with 24 seconds on the clock.

Pratt returned in time to pick up a foul and step to the line.

He made the first free throw.

He missed the second.

But a traveling call gave ISU the ball.

An alley-oop to forward Shawn Bankhead was good. ISU was up by one with just 10 seconds left.

It wasn’t enough.

Dollar drove the length of the court to score the game-winning layup with 1.9 seconds on the clock.

Edwards looked to inbound the ball.

Tick. Tick. Tick.

Game over.

Season over.