Sports

Storm shafted at line in Lavin’s return to UCLA

RED-FACED: St. John’s coach Steve Lavin (above) can’t believe UCLA went to the line 34 more times than his Red Storm, negating a career-high 32 points by Dwight Hardy in a 66-59 loss yesterday. (AP)

LOS ANGELES — The postgame press conference was almost as much of a clown show as the second half of UCLA’S 66-59 win over St. John’s yesterday.

Red Storm coach Steve Lavin was forced to answer questions in the corner of Pauley Pavilion court, where fans and hangers-on of all kinds waved hello, patted him on the back and even handed him pictures.

No one from UCLA provided Lavin with a final box score because the clowns wouldn’t have been able to keep a straight face:

How do you look the losing coach in the face and congratulate him on what a terrific game his team played when the home squad went to the foul line 41 times and visitors got there seven times?

“They were in the penalty with 16 minutes left,” St. John’s guard Dwight Hardy said. “It’s tough to defend without fouling when you’re in the penalty like that.”

Lavin, who was an assistant and head coach at UCLA from 1991-2003, would not discuss the officiating on the record, which tells you all you need to know. Hardy said the refs (from the Pac-10) didn’t decide the game, St. John’s did by committing some late fundamental blunders — like not boxing out on the free throw line. Fair enough.

But the fact is Lavin’s Big Top Homecoming was ruined by a sideshow.

The Bruins outscored the Red Storm 27-5 from the free-throw line. They went to the line 33 times in the second half, converting 20.

It’s a testament to how hard the Johnnies played that they were still only down 62-59 with 2:07 left.

“We wanted this game for coach because we knew [Lavin] was coming home,” Hardy said. “But we wanted it for us because we wanted to beat Duke, Rutgers and UCLA. We got two. We could have got all three.”

The Johnnies (13-9) were trailing 32-30 when UCLA (16-7) went on a 10-2 run to open a 42-32 lead with 14:05 left. Eight of the points came from the line.

Three times in the final four minutes, St. John’s failed to rebound a UCLA missed free throw. The Storm also got slapped on the boards 40-28 and had no answer for UCLA freshman center Josh Smith, who had 19 points on 8-of-10 shooting and eight boards.

St. John’s was led by Hardy, who had a career-high 32 points on 13-of-24 shooting. The rest of the team combined for 27 points and 12-of-39 shooting.

It had been, as Lavin predicted, a surreal trip back to the place where he got his first head coaching job in 1996. The 1995 NCAA Championship banner hangs behind the visiting bench.

Lavin was UCLA’s 32-year-old fair-(gel)haired boy, taking the Bruins to six straight NCAA Tournaments. But when he slipped to 10-19 in 2003, the clowns became an angry mob and he was ousted. Their new ringleader, Ben Howland, bested the old one.

Lavin returned the smiles, signed some autographs, returned waves. Then he said that any UCLA coach has to expect to have short tenure. They are measured against the late John Wooden and his 10 banners.

Lavin has moved on. He attended the prep game of prize recruit Norvel Pelle last night. UCLA, and those hanging to the belief they are still the Bruins of old, is now completely in the past.

“Coming out of the [visitor’s] locker room before the game I recognized so many faces, so many people I wanted to say, ‘Hi,’ ” said Lavin. “For a couple of moments I forget that our bench was at the opposite end. And then [assistant] coach [Gene] Keady said, ‘We’re at the other end.’ That cracked me up.”

The clowns did not.

lenn.robbins@nypost.com