Stanford surprises UCLA
STANFORD, Calif. – Lawrence Hill rattled in a 14-footer to tie the game. His go-ahead 3-pointer was only slightly prettier: It banked in.
“Honestly, I just black out,” he said. “I know when the play is designed for scoring and I have an opportunity to get it in. That’s my focus. Whatever works.”
Stanford made nearly everything work in the second half.
Hill scored seven straight points – including those two key baskets – and the Cardinal rallied in the final 20 minutes to stun No. 3 UCLA 75-68 on Sunday night, handing the Bruins just their second loss of the season.
Hill finished with 22 points for the Cardinal, who are making quite the case for being a contender after all.
Arron Afflalo had 22 points, six rebounds and five assists for the Bruins (18-2, 7-2 Pac-10). But even he had trouble as the Bruins were thoroughly outplayed in the second half and had their four-game winning streak snapped.
Their only other loss came Jan. 6 at Oregon, 68-66.
Stanford’s students rushed the court in a wild celebration at the final buzzer.
“It’s awesome,” guard Anthony Goods said. “We knew it would be a critical game. We all got our share of bruises today, but we kept fighting and never gave up.”
Goods scored 17 of his 20 points in the second half when the coaches kept saying to calmly chip away. He hit four of the team’s seven 3-pointers as Stanford won its third straight and sixth in seven to complete a sweep of the ranked Los Angeles schools after a 65-50 victory over No. 25 USC on Thursday night.
Maybe now it’s the Cardinal’s turn to earn a ranking. Stanford (14-5, 6-3) was picked to finish seventh in the surprisingly even Pac-10.
They have another tough one at home Wednesday night against Gonzaga.
“Obviously we’re pretty happy and we have a lot to be happy about,” said coach Trent Johnson, who went to a smaller lineup after halftime. “We’ll enjoy it tonight and then at 3 o’clock tomorrow get ready for another good team.”
Darren Collison added 17 points and Josh Shipp had nine points, six steals and five assists for the Bruins.
Stanford made 8 of its first 11 second-half baskets while UCLA went 6 for 19. Hill hit 8 of 10 shots and Stanford went 14 for 20 for 70 percent from the field after trailing 37-25 at halftime.
Stanford made 18 of 25 free throws after the break, while UCLA only got to the line six times and 15 overall. The Bruins blew it after a 17-point lead in the first half.
“No excuses. We had a golden opportunity with a 17-point lead,” UCLA coach Ben Howland said. “We’ve got to do a better job keeping the killer instinct.”
Afflalo scored 11 points in his first 12 minutes. His three free throws at 10:22 sparked a 13-4 UCLA run capped by Russell Westbrook’s transition dunk off a steal that made it 28-16. Johnson quickly used a timeout.
Afflalo had eight points as UCLA outscored Stanford 15-9 to close the first half for a 37-25 lead at halftime. The Cardinal were held without a field goal for 7 1/2 minutes – going 0 for 8 in that span – before Carlton Weatherby’s putback 44 seconds before halftime. Kenny Brown hit a 3-pointer to beat the halftime buzzer.