Norman Powell tallied 20 points in UCLA's 69-67 victory at Stanford (AP photo)
Courtesy: Associated Press
STANFORD, Calif. - Norman Powell scored 20 points and grabbed eight rebounds and Isaac Hamilton finished with 18 points to lead UCLA past Stanford, 69-67, in a Pac-12 game at Maples Pavilion on Thursday night.
Bryce Alford also scored 18 points for UCLA, which became just the second team to win at Stanford's Maples Pavilion this season (along with Arizona).
The Bruins (14-9, 6-4 Pac-12) led by as many as 22 points in the second half and withstood a furious rally by Stanford (15-7, 6-4) in the game’s final 10 minutes to secure their sixth win in eight games.
"We had them down 15 in the first half and down 20 in the second half," UCLA head coach Steve Alford said. "That is an incredible amount of work for our young guys. I don’t care if we win by 20 or by half a point. Our guys did a lot of good things and put themselves in a situation to win."
Hamilton made four of his first five 3-point field goal attempts and scored 12 of the Bruins’ first 26 points.
Leading at halftime, 31-25, Powell helped the Bruins increase their cushion by scoring 15 of his of his game-high 20 points in the second half. The senior guard from San Diego, Calif., shot just 2 for 10 in the first half, but answered by nailing 5 of 9 field goal attempts after the break.
Anthony Brown led Stanford with 19 points, while Rosco Allen and Chasson Randle each finished with 13 points. Randle, who entered Thursday’s game averaging a conference-best 20.8 points per game, made 4 of 13 shots and just 1 of 8 attempts from 3-point range.
UCLA led 68-67 with 3.8 seconds to play, when Alford went to the free throw line. The sophomore guard missed his first attempt and made his second before the Bruins called a timeout. Randle missed a 3-point shot for Stanford at the final buzzer.
The Bruins were able to withstand Stanford's scoring runs in the final minutes of both the first and second halves. UCLA led by a 31-15 margin with 3:29 to play before halftime, but Stanford used a 10-0 run over the next 2:12 to reduce the Bruins’ cushion to 31-25.
Hamilton drained a 3-pointer just 10 seconds into the second half, propelling UCLA to an early 8-0 run. In fact, the Bruins extended their margin to 22 points (57-35) on a free throw shot from Hamilton with 10:18 to play.
Stanford began to close the gap, reducing UCLA’s lead to 63-51 by the 6:20 mark and to 67-62 with 1:13 to play.
The Cardinal lost their second game at Maples Pavilion all season, having entered the game with a 10-1 home record.
UCLA will return to the court at California on Saturday, Feb. 7. Game time at Haas Pavilion is 5 p.m. (PT). The Bruins’ road game will be televised by Pac-12 Networks.
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