Cal upends UCLA in OT at Pac-10 tournament

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"We fought too hard to give this one back," Cal coach Ben Braun said. "We were frustrated that we had two games with pretty good leads and lost."

UCLA's second straight defeat dealt a serious blow to its hopes of being a No. 1 seed in next week's NCAA tournament.

"I don't even care," UCLA coach Ben Howland said. "If we don't play better than we're playing right now, anyone in the field of 64 teams will beat us."

Overtime turned into a blowout, with Cal outscoring the Bruins 15-8.

The game was a rematch of last year's Pac-10 title game, won by UCLA on its way to a runner-up finish in the national championship game.

Ryan Anderson added 18 points for the eighth-seeded Bears (16-16), who gave up a 16-point first-half lead.

"This is what I'm going to remember (from) my freshman year," said Anderson, who had a career-high 27 points in a 70-51 opening-round win over Oregon State.

Ubaka, a senior guard, encouraged his teammates to keep the upset in perspective, with No. 16 Oregon waiting in Friday's semifinals. The teams split their two meetings this season.

"This is great, but we have another game tomorrow," he said. "Oregon doesn't care that we won this game."

Darren Collison had 20 points, Josh Shipp 19 and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute 13 for the top-seeded Bruins (26-5), who lost their regular-season finale at Washington.

"It's a definitely disappointing way to end the season," said a glum-looking Shipp, who hit five three-pointers in the first half. "We had a couple of mental mistakes."

UCLA's Arron Afflalo, the Pac-10's player of the year, had his worst offensive performance of the season with three points, ending a streak of 29 games in double figures.

"It's hard to swallow, that's for sure," he said. "It's going to be a long week. The way I played tonight was a majority of the reason why we lost."

Free-throw shooting, a persistent problem for the Bruins, did them in, too. They were 15-of-29 from the line, while Cal hit 20-of-25.

Ubaka tied the game at 59 on a three-pointer after a wild scramble with 54 seconds left in regulation. Collison drove the lane and scored to put the Bruins in front until Ubaka's floater with 15 seconds left forced overtime.

"We know he goes right, the scouting report says he goes right and he did exactly that and made a great shot," Howland said. "Ubaka absolutely dominated the game."

Collison couldn't answer again when his three-pointer missed in the closing seconds.

"I thought we had momentum going into overtime," he said. "We spent so much energy coming back."

Afflalo scored his only field goal of the game to open overtime, but he never connected again. The Bruins watched as shots hit the rim and the Bears' offensive momentum continued unabated.

Afflalo, who prides himself on being UCLA's top defensive player, guarded Ubaka.

"What did he get, 29 points? That's unacceptable," Afflalo said. "It was my guy who was going above and beyond. I don't want to make an excuse for it. I'll make the adjustments."

Omar Wilkes, the son of former UCLA star Jamaal Wilkes, scored on a one-handed scoop to tie the game at 63. Ubaka hit a jumper that gave Cal the lead for good. Eric Vierneisel made four consecutive free throws as the Bears pulled away.

"Ayinde is a winner. In every game that goes into overtime or is close down the stretch, he has his fingerprints on it," Braun said. "He's willing to take big shots, he's willing to have the ball in his hands. It's nice to have a senior and a four-year starter like Ayinde who's been in the trenches."

Down by 12, the Bruins opened the second half with a scoring burst nearly identical to the one Cal generated in the first 20 minutes. Their 20-4 run helped them take the lead, 45-41, for the first time since the game's opening moments.

Collison had nine points, including a steal and fastbreak dunk, and Mbah a Moute added six.

The Bears struggled on 1-of-8 field-goal shooting against UCLA's increased defensive pressure.

Mostly though, the Bruins went to the line as Cal was called for 10 fouls in 8½ minutes after having six in the first half. The Bruins were only 7-of-17 from the line in that stretch.

Neither team led by more than four points over the final 8½ minutes of regulation.

Ubaka's three-pointer went in as the shot clock expired, putting Cal ahead 56-53. The Bruins scored six straight points for a 59-56 lead before Ubaka's two straight baskets ensured overtime.

The Bears outscored UCLA 23-5 in the first half for a 16-point lead. Afflalo had zero points and three fouls, while Collison was scoreless with five of UCLA's 11 turnovers.

Oregon rips up Arizona in quarterfinals

Oregon coach Ernie Kent received a pleasant surprise Thursday. The tight game he expected with Arizona didn't happen.

Tajuan Porter and Aaron Brooks burned Arizona with their long-range shooting, combining for nine three-pointers, and the 18th-ranked Ducks beat the Wildcats 69-50 in the quarterfinals of the Pac-10 tournament.

"The last four games we've played them have come down to the last two minutes," Kent said. "I thought this would be another of those games."

The teams split their last four games, with Oregon winning by five and three points and Arizona winning by two points twice.

"I thought for us it was the best defensive performance in 10 years against Arizona," Kent said after Oregon's third win over the Wildcats in the last 11 games between the teams. "We put together a game plan, and my hat is off to these guys because they executed it perfectly."

Porter, a 5-foot-6 freshman, shot 8-of-12 including 5-of-6 from three-point range for 21 points. He has made a Pac-10 freshman-record 87 three-pointers this season.

Brooks, the Ducks' leading scorer, had all 16 of his points in the first 13 minutes to help put Oregon ahead for good. He shot 6-of-13 including 4-of-8 from outside the arc.

"It was our skill and quickness against their skill and quickness, and today we were a little bit better shooting the ball," Kent said.

That's for sure. The Ducks shot 26-of-56 including 11-of-20 from three-point range, while the Wildcats went 21-of-60 including 3-of-16 from beyond the arc.

"Arizona's definitely a tough team, but I also understand the capabilities of this basketball team when we're playing at our best," said Oregon's Malik Hairston, who had nine points and 10 rebounds.

The fourth-seeded Ducks (24-7) have won five straight, prompting Kent to say they're peaking at the right time.

The loss snapped a three-game winning streak for the Wildcats, who have won at least 20 games in 20 consecutive seasons but struggled at times while playing one of the nation's toughest schedules this year. Nevertheless, they're expected to be invited to their 23rd straight NCAA tournament.

Arizona (20-10) was seeded fifth — its lowest in the 10-year history of the Pac-10 tournament.

"There's no question of who played the hardest, smartest and most competitively," said Lute Olson, in his 24th season as the Arizona coach. "It starts out front with Aaron Brooks, but Tajuan Porter knocked down shots, too. They're a problem to defend."

Jordan Hill led Arizona with 15 points and a career-high 14 rebounds. Marcus Williams added 13 points and freshman Chase Budinger had 10 for the Wildcats, whose 50 points were their fewest since Dec. 18, 2004 when they beat Marquette 48-43.

"Nobody had rhythm. It was contagious," said Budinger, who shot 4-of-11. "It seems like when one is shooting bad, it goes on to the next one.

"They came out wanting it more. They came out tougher than us."

Three-pointers by Porter and Maarty Leunen gave Oregon a 46-31 lead before Arizona's Ivan Radenovic made his first two baskets of the game. But freshman Joevan Catron and Porter scored six points each during a 12-2 run that put the Ducks on top 58-37 with 9:41 remaining.

Williams scored five points around two free throws by Radenovic to cut Oregon's lead to 60-46 with 5½ minutes left, but that's as close as the Wildcats would get.

Brooks made four three-pointers in five attempts and added a pair of baskets from inside the arc as Oregon took a 24-16 lead in the opening 13 minutes. Hill scored five straight points to move Arizona within three, but the Ducks outscored the Wildcats 10-2 to finish the first half with a 34-23 lead.

Radenovic and Shakur, a pair of seniors averaging in double figures, were both scoreless at that stage, missing six shots between them.

Radenovic, coming off a career-high 37-point performance in the Wildcats' 85-80 overtime victory at Stanford, finished with six points, eight rebounds and six assists. Shakur scored two points. They combined to make only 3 of 13 shots.

"We played physical with him," Hairston said regarding Oregon's defense against Radenovic. "We have a defense that we continue to rotate and front the post, and we were just very active and very physical with him."

[More at www.usatoday.com]

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