UCLA makes early lead stand up against Arizona
Arron Afflalo scored 22 points and No. 17 UCLA, which shot 61 percent, held off a late Arizona rally to beat the 21st-ranked Wildcats 85-79 on Thursday night in Tucson, Ariz.
The Bruins never trailed and were up by as many as nine points in the second half, but the Wildcats twice cut the lead to two in the final minute.
UCLA sealed the victory by making six consecutive free throws, the first four by Jordan Farmar and the last two by Josh Shipp. Nine players scored for the young but deep Bruins.
Hassan Adams scored 21 points for Arizona, while Marcus Williams added 19, Ivan Radenovic 17, Chris Rodgers 12 and Kirk Walters 10 in a loss that snapped the Wildcats’ seven-game winning streak.
The Bruins, who survived 23 turnovers, took the lead for good with a 5-0 spurt to end the first half, going up 39-35. They made it a 10-0 run by scoring the first five points of the second half, taking a 44-35 lead on Lorenzo Mata’s stuff with 18:30 remaining.
The Wildcats made it interesting at the end for the loud home crowd. With 40 seconds left Chris Rogers’ stole Afflalo’s inbound pass, scored and was fouled. He made the free throw to cut the lead to 79-77 with 35 seconds to play.
Farmar’s two free throws boosted it to 81-77, then Williams hit a 15-footer to cut the lead to 81-79 with 20 seconds left. Farmar made two more from the line with 10 seconds left, and Shipp’s steal and two free throws sealed it.
California 77, Oregon 66
Ayinde Ubaka scored a career-high 29 points and Leon Powe added 27 and to lead the Golden Bears over the Ducks at Berkeley, Calif.
After ending its non-conference season with losses to Kansas and DePaul, Cal has had a strong opening to the Pac-10 schedule. The Bears won at USC and UCLA last week and followed that up with the win against Oregon, giving them their best conference start since winning their first seven three years ago on their way to the NCAA Tournament.
USC 66, Arizona St. 65
Lodrick Stewart made the Trojans’ second 3-point attempt in the final seconds, and USC rallied for a win over Sun Devils at Tempe, Ariz.
Stewart, scoreless until his fifth shot of the night dropped with 2.1 seconds left, got the ball from 5-foot-11 Ryan Francis, who came away with the rebound after Gabe Pruitt missed. The Sun Devils’ Kevin Kruger was off-target with a 50-footer as the buzzer expired.
Stanford 80, Oregon State 66
Chris Hernandez scored 10 of his 20 points in the final 5 minutes in helping the Cardinal defeat the Beavers at Stanford, Calif. Lawrence Hill added 13 points, including a clutch 3-pointer in the final minutes as the Cardinal beat Oregon State for the 13th straight time at home.