Cal snaps No. 11 UCLA’s eight-game win streak

Los Angeles, CA (Basketball News) - Ayinde Ubaka scored 18 points to help lead California over 11th-ranked UCLA, 68-61, at Pauley Pavilion.

Omar Wilkes and Richard Midgley each had 12 points for the Golden Bears (8-3, 2-0), who won for the second consecutive time. DeVon Hardin also reached double figures for California with 10 points, while Leon Powe had a game-high 12 rebounds.

Arron Afflalo paced the Bruins (11-2, 1-1) with 19 points and five rebounds while Josh Shipp chipped in 10 points. UCLA lost for the first time in nine games.

The Bears clamped down on UCLA’s star guard, Jordan Farmar, who managed just six points on 2-of-11 shooting. The preseason Wooden Award and Naismith candidate was 0-for-5 from long range.

A 9-0 run capped by Ryan Wright’s three-point play with just over nine minutes left put the Bruins in control at 44-41, but the Golden Bears answered quickly with a quick 7-0 burst.

A Hardin hook gave the Bears a 48-44 lead with just over eight minutes left.

After a pair of Ubaka free throws extended the lead to seven, Afflalo answered with a deep trey from the right wing to make it 54-50 with 3:58 left.

An ill-advised Farmar foul later on put Ubaka on the charity stripe, and the junior guard calmly stroked two shots to extend the Bears lead to 58-51 with 2:34 remaining in the game.

Darren Collison’s three brought UCLA back to 58-54 with just over two minutes left. A subsequent foul on Wilkes gave the ball right back to the Bruins for two Collison freebies to make it a two-point game, 58-56, with 1:46 left.

A follow-up layup by Rod Benson gave the Bears some breathing room at 60-56 and California coasted in the final minute.

California’s hot shooting carried then to a 30-25 advantage at the half. The Golden Bears shot 57.1 percent from the field, including 4-of-7 from beyond- the-arc. Ubaka paced California with eight first-half points while Afflalo had nine for the Bruins.

Game Notes

Cal won the battle of the boards, 32-25...Wilkes and his brother Jordan, a freshman center for the Golden Bears, are both the sons of former UCLA great Jamaal Wilkes...UCLA now leads the series 121-94. The teams split two meetings last season, with California winning in Pauley (64-51) and UCLA winning at Berkeley (77-62).