Jordan Adams powers UCLA basketball in win at Cal

Jordan Adams scored 28 points for UCLA (AP Photo)

Courtesy: Associated Press

By Jack Wang, Los Angeles Daily News

POSTED: 02/19/14, 10:02 PM PST | UPDATED: 1 DAY AGO | article link

BERKELEY — For a moment in UCLA’s 86-66 win Wednesday night, Cal breathed in hope.

With less than four minutes left until halftime, senior point guard Justin Cobbs hit a running floater against heavy contact. He pumped his fist and headed to the line. He hit the free throw.

What had been a double-digit Bruins lead less than three minutes earlier was cut to four.

It would be Cobbs’ only field goal of the first half. He missed an 18-footer on the Bears’ next possession, and UCLA unleashed a 7-0 run in 88 seconds. The Bruins walked into the locker room with a commanding 44-32 lead, and never felt threatened again in arguably their best performance of the year.

Powered by Jordan Adams’ game-high 28 points, UCLA (21-5, 10-3) led by as many as 27 and never by less than nine after the break. In addition to shooting 12 of 19 from the field, the sophomore wing filled in an all-around effort with six rebounds, five assists and five steals.

Point guard Kyle Anderson, a Bob Cousy Award finalist, had 11 points, nine rebounds and seven assists. Forward Travis Wear had 13 points, his fourth double-digit outing in six games.

“This was as well as we’ve played in a while,” said Bruins head coach Steve Alford, whose team stayed one game back of Arizona for the Pac-12 lead.

UCLA opened the game on a 14-5 run, and never trailed through 40 minutes. It held the Bears (17-9, 8-5) to 39.3 percent shooting in the first half.

Cal freshmen Jabari Bird and Jordan Mathews combined for 27 points, and were the only players with multiple field goals in the first half. None of their teammates finished the game with double figures. Cobbs, Tyrone Wallace and Richard Solomon — the team’s three leading scorers — ended up with 18 combined points on 4-of-21 shooting.

The Bruins hadn’t won at Haas Pavilion since a 76-75 overtime victory on Jan. 6, 2010, a game capped by a Michael Roll jumper with 1.9 seconds left. There was far less drama on Wednesday night, but the team left with a far more meaningful outcome.

Whereas the 2010 win came in the midst of a 14-18 season — the second-worst of former coach Ben Howland’s 10-year tenure — this one kept UCLA within striking distance of the Pac-12 lead.

A few minutes before the final buzzer in Berkeley, UCLA almost got some help over 700 miles east. Utah put a scare into No. 4 Arizona, taking the Wildcats into overtime before falling 67-63. Sean Miller’s squad had been undefeated until a two-point loss at Cal on Feb. 1, and sits one game ahead of the Bruins.

Meanwhile, UCLA coasted past the Bears, shooting a blistering 64 percent in the second half. In a conference race that could go down to the final weekend, Alford looks in control of the league’s best team. During their four-game winning streak, the Bruins are shooting 51.7 percent, including 50.7 percent from beyond the arc.

“We’ve been playing some good basketball as of late,” forward Travis Wear said. “This is the perfect time to be doing it. I think we’re really dangerous.”