The Sports Xchange
By Jake Curtis, The Sports Xchange
UCLA 86, Cal 66
BERKELEY, Calif. — Guard Jordan Adams scored 28 points to lead No. 23 UCLA to an 86-66 victory over Cal on Wednesday at Haas Pavilion.
UCLA (21-5, 10-3 Pac-12) shot 57 percent from the field and was in control from the outset. The Bruins committed just six turnovers and led by a double-digit margin for the final 16 minutes of the game.
Adams shot 12-for-19 from the field, including 2-for-3 on 3-pointers. He also had six rebounds and five assists. Forward Travis Wear added 13 points for Bruins, while guard/forward Kyle Anderson had 11 points, nine rebounds and seven assists.
Freshman guard Jordan Mathews came off the bench to lead the Bears (17-9, 8-5) with 16 points. Another Cal reserve, guard Jabari Bird, added 11 points.
Cal is still in position to land an NCAA Tournament berth, but a win over UCLA would have solidified its standing.
UCLA increased a 12-point halftime lead to 17 points when Adams muscled in a 5-foot shot with 13:16 left.
Cal quickly cut the deficit to 61-49 when Mathews hit a 3-point shot from the corner.
However, UCLA remained in control and extended its lead to 21 points when Adams converted three-point play and a fast-break layup to make it 71-50 at the 9:22 mark.
The margin grew to 24 points with 7:28 left, and UCLA led by as many as 27 points in the closing minutes.
UCLA led 44-32 at halftime after shooting 52 percent from the field and committing just one turnover.
Adams led the Bruins with 12 first-half points, including a 3-point shot five seconds before halftime.
Reserves accounted for 17 of Cal’s first-half points, with Bird and Mathews coming off the bench to score nine and eight points, respectively.
UCLA took a quick 6-0 lead and increased it to 20-8 when Adams scored from close range with 10:38 left in the half.
Cal closed to within 34-30 on guard Justin Cobbs’ three-point play with 3:36 left before the Bruins ended the half on a 10-2 run.
The Bruins shot 6-for-10 from 3-point range in the first half, but they were just 4-for-9 at the foul line.
NOTES: UCLA beat Cal 76-64 on Jan. 26 at Pauley Pavilion in the teams’ first meeting this season. … Cal owns a win this season over the first-place team in the Pac-12 (Arizona) and a loss to the last-place team (USC). The Bears host the Trojans on Sunday. … UCLA lost each of their previous three games at Cal’s Haas Pavilion before Wednesday. … Bruins 6-foot-9 G Kyle Anderson leads the conference in assists and is sixth nationally in that category, averaging 6.8 assists per game heading into Wednesday’s game. … Wednesday’s game was the 236th meeting between the teams. … UCLA finishes off its Bay Area swing with a game at Stanford on Saturday afternoon.
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