The good news for follicly challenged UCLA coach Ben Howland is that he doesn't have that much hair left to lose, or pull out.
For the second time in three nights, the Bruins on Saturday faced what seemed to be an insurmountable second-half deficit, yet found a way to win. This time, the comeback landed them their biggest victory of the season, a 95-86 win over No. 12 Washington in front of 11,970 at Pauley Pavilion.
PHOTO: AFP
"We have some tough kids who always show a lot of heart and character," UCLA point guard Jordan Farmar said. "We'll fight you until the very end."
PHOTO: EPA
The Bruins (9-3, 3-1) trailed 23-5 eight minutes into the game and but roared back in the second half behind inspired defense and a great offensive effort. The Bruins made 19 of 29 shots, sparked by better dribble penetration from their guards and some clutch perimeter shooting.
UCLA starts three freshmen, but it was two seniors who led the way in the second half. Dijon Thompson scored 19 of his game-high 29 and Brian Morrison scored all 19 of his points after halftime to help end the Huskies' winning streak at 10.
Morrison, a reserve guard, hit a fall-away jumper with 2:36 remaining to give the Bruins an 87-85 lead. UCLA led 89-86 when freshman Lorenzo Mata put back a missed jumper by Farmar with 27 seconds remaining, and Morrison then got a steal. UCLA finished the game with a 10-1 run.
In the second half, Thompson made eight of his nine attempts, and Morrison made all six of his as the Bruins rallied to win despite trailing by 14 points more than five minutes into the second half.
"It's the determination and pride we have within ourselves," Thompson said. "We refuse to lose at home. That's the goal we set for ourselves."
Nine representatives of NBA teams, including Miami Heat president Pat Riley, were on hand, and they couldn't have been disappointed with the entertaining game. The Bruins stopped the Huskies' bid to win their first game at Pauley Pavilion since 1987 despite 21 points from Nate Robinson and 19 from Tre Simmons.
Most of the scouts probably were there to see Robinson, but Thompson gave them a show, tying a career high in points, grabbing nine rebounds and leaving the court for only one minute in the second half.
"Dijon made some tough shots," Howland said. "I can't say enough about Dijon. He's playing very, very good for us right now. He's playing the best basketball of his career at UCLA."
UCLA had to rally from a 17-point second-half deficit Thursday to beat Washington State, but against a far more talented Washington (13-2, 3-1) squad, the Bruins' task was even tougher.
The Bruins trailed by 10 at halftime and were behind 65-41 less than six minutes into the second half when the light came on. Unlike the first half, when the Huskies took and made easy shots, the Bruins tightened up their defense, which led to better looks on offense and a 14-2 run.
That brought UCLA to within two points with 11 minutes remaining, and the Bruins took their first lead since 3-2 when Morrison hit a 3-pointer to go ahead 75-74 with eight minutes remaining.
"That was a great win against one of the top teams in the country," Howland said. "Our guys have a lot of heart, and the will to win is very strong in these kids."
UCLA clearly outplayed Washington for three-fourths of the game, but for a while it seemed it might not be enough.
The Huskies get tremendous credit for their defense, and rightfully so, but their early success Saturday night started on the offensive end. Washington made more than two-thirds of its shots (21 of 31) in the first half, which prevented the Bruins -- who trailed by as many as 21 points -- from generating any type of consistent fastbreak offense.
That played right into the hands of the Washington defense, which plays a suffocating style of basketball. But the Bruins, led by Farmar, remained steady. Since his season-high nine turnovers Dec. 31 at Oregon State, he has only three turnovers in his past 107 minutes, all of them in 34 minutes Saturday.
No. 3 North Carolina 109,
No. 22 Maryland 75
Rashad McCants paced seven players in double figures with 19 points, as North Carolina rolled to a 109-75 victory over No. 22 Maryland at the Dean Smith Center.
Sean May netted 14 points and Jawad Williams added 13 for the Tar Heels (13-1, 2-0 ACC), who have won 13 straight since dropping their season-opener to Santa Clara.
Marvin Williams and Raymond Felton each contributed 12 points for North Carolina. Williams also grabbed nine rebounds. Reyshawn Terry had 11 points and Jackie Manuel finished with 10 in the win.
Chris McCray and Travis Garrison led the Terrapins with 13 points apiece. John Gilchrist chipped in 11 points for Maryland (9-3, 1-1), which had a five-game winning streak snapped.
No. 1 Illinois 68, Purdue 59
In West Lafayette, Indiana Luther Head scored 15 points to lead a balanced attack as Illinois rallied from a halftime deficit to defeat Purdue, 68-59, at Mackey Arena.
Dee Brown added 14 points and Roger Powell Jr. chipped in 13 for the Fighting Illini (16-0, 2-0 Big Ten), who are off to their best start since beginning the 1988-1989 season with 17 straight victories.
Illinois has now also won 12 straight conference games, which is the school's longest conference winning streak since the 1955-1956 season when the Illini won 13 straight contests.
No. 5 Duke 82, Temple 74
In Durham, North Carolina, Daniel Ewing scored 24 points and J.J. Redick added 22 to lead Duke to a hard-fought 82-74 victory over the Temple Owls at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Ewing and Redick combined to shoot 9-of-20 from three-point range and Duke ended 13-of-34 from beyond the arc. Shelden Williams contributed 10 points and nine rebounds for Duke (11-0).
The game featured two Hall of Fame coaches who have combined to win over 1,400 games. Duke's Mike Krzyzewski has the upper hand head-to-head against the Owls' John Chaney, winning seven of eight meetings.
No. 4 Wake Forest 103, Clemson 68
In Clemson, South Carolina, Justin Gray shot 10-for-18, including 5-for-7 from three-point range, and finished with 31 points to lead Wake Forest to a 103-68 victory over the Clemson Tigers at Littlejohn Coliseum.
Eric Williams added 21 and Chris Paul chipped in 14 points for the Demon Deacons (13-1, 2-0 Atlantic Coast Conference).
Akin Akingbala scored 16 points to lead the Tigers (9-5, 0-2).
No. 6 Syracuse 75, Seton Hall 50
In Syracuse, New York, Gerry McNamara scored 23 points, Hakim Warrick added 14 with nine rebounds, and Syracuse rolled to a 75-50 victory over Big East rival Seton Hall at the Carrier Dome.
Craig Forth chipped in 10 points for the Orange (15-1, 2-0 Big East), who have won eight straight since a loss to Oklahoma State on Dec. 7.
Kelly Whitney scored 10 points to lead Seton Hall (8-5, 0-2), which has dropped its first two league tilts of the season on the heels of a four-game winning streak.
Stanford 87, No. 13 Arizona 76
In Palo Alto, California, Dan Grunfeld scored 29 points and Chris Hernandez added 23, leading Stanford to an 87-76 victory over Arizona at Maples Pavilion.
Rob Little chipped in 16 points and 12 rebounds for the Cardinal (7-7, 1-3 Pac-10), who snapped a three-game losing streak and gave new head coach Trent Johnson his first Pac-10 win.
Hernandez, who missed Thursday's 81-69 loss to Arizona State with back spasms, added six steals and four assists while hitting 3-of-5 three-point tries. Grunfeld made each of his three-point shots and finished 10-of-12 from the field.
No. 10 Connecticut 66,
Georgetown 59
In Washington, Charlie Villanueva scored 19 points and grabbed 13 rebounds, leading 10th-ranked Connecticut to a 66-59 victory over Georgetown at the MCI Center.
Denham Brown added a season-high 19 points off the bench for the Huskies (9-2, 1-1 Big East), who held off a second-half Georgetown rally and rebounded from a 75-70 conference-opening home loss to Boston College on Wednesday.
Ohio State 81, No. 14 Iowa 69
In Columbus, Ohio, Terence Dials scored 22 points and pulled down eight rebounds to lead Ohio State to an 81-69 victory over No. 14 Iowa at Value City Arena.
Tony Stockman hit 5-of-7 from three-point range and finished with 19 points for the Buckeyes (12-3, 1-1 Big Ten), who improved to 10-0 at home this season. Je'Kel Foster shot 4-of-7 from beyond the arc for 12 points.
No. 7 Oklahoma St. 76,
Texas Tech 66
In Lubbock, Texas, Joey Graham poured in 25 points and grabbed 12 rebounds to lead Oklahoma State to a 76-66 win over Texas Tech at the United Spirit Center.
John Lucas ended with 20 points and five assists for the Cowboys (11-1, 1-0 Big 12), who have won two straight since suffering a 78-75 setback to Gonzaga on December 28. Lucas finished 7-of-11 from the field, including 6-of-9 from three-point range, in the win.
LeBron James hit his first eight shots and scored 22 points to power the Cleveland Cavaliers past the New York Knicks 104-79 for their third straight victory.
James, in his fifth game wearing a clear mask to protect a broken left cheekbone, played only 32 minutes and shot 10-for-14 from the field -- including two resounding slams early in the second quarter.
"We wanted to protect our house and make sure people know when they come to Cleveland now they are playing a basketball team," James said.
Lucious Harris scored a season-high 16 points as Cleveland had five players in double figures and improved to 13-3 at home, 20-12 overall.
Tim Thomas scored 17 points for New York, which dropped its record under .500 (16-17) with its fourth consecutive loss.
Knicks coach Lenny Wilkens said: "They ran a clinic on us."
Cleveland built a 67-36 halftime lead and coasted to its largest victory margin over the Knicks. The previous mark of 24 was set in 1976, when the Cavaliers wore the same striped gold home uniforms that they donned in this "throwback game" before a national television audience.
The Knicks' Moochie Norris, Stephon Marbury, Allan Houston, Vin Baker and Nazr Mohammed all donated US$1,000 to UNICEF's tsunami relief fund for each point they scored -- a total of US$32,000.
Spurs 99, Nuggets 90
At San Antonio, Bruce Bowen held Carmelo Anthony in check and made three 3-pointers in the fourth quarter to help the San Antonio Spurs beat the Denver Nuggets.
Anthony, who entered the game averaging a team-leading 21.7 points, was limited to eight points on 4-for-15 shooting. He sat out most of the third quarter with foul trouble while the Nuggets rallied to pull within 72-68.
Manu Ginobili scored 22 points for San Antonio, while Tony Parker had 20 and Duncan 19. Bowen made all five of his shots in the second half and finished with 17 points, and Rasho Nesterovic grabbed 11 rebounds.
The loss was Denver's ninth in the past 10 games, while the Spurs have won 12 of their last 14.
Wizards 117, Timberwolves 114
In Washington, Gilbert Arenas scored seven of his season-high 40 points in the final 2:19 to lead Washington over Minnesota for its their fourth consecutive victory.
Larry Hughes had 28 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists for the Wizards, who at 19-13 are off to their best start in 20 seasons. Antawn Jamison added 23 points and 10 rebounds for Washington.
Kevin Garnett, who finished with 25 points and 19 rebounds, scored 12 in the fourth quarter and gave the Timberwolves a 112-106 lead on a turnaround jumper with 2:02 remaining. But the Timberwolves couldn't close out.
Magic 104, Nets 101
In Orlando, Florida, Grant Hill scored 22 points as Orlando won its third straight game by holding off New Jersey's frantic comeback.
The Nets, trailing by 19 early in the fourth quarter, cut the deficit to two with 10 seconds remaining on Jason Kidd's fourth 3-pointer of the period.
Kidd had 22 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists for his first triple-double of the season and 60th of his career.
After the Nets fouled, Cuttino Mobley's free throws put the Magic back up by four. He made six foul shots in the final 26 seconds to finish with 19 points. For the Magic, Hedo Turkoglu added 19 points, while Steve Francis had 16 and nine assists. Dwight Howard recorded his 11th double-double with 14 points and 13 rebounds.
Mavericks 121, Pacers 101
In Dallas, Dirk Nowitzki grabbed 34 points and 13 rebounds, and Michael Finley added a season-high 33 to lead Dallas to a franchise-best 74.3 percent of shots in the first half, then cruise over Indiana.
Dallas has won five straight games, its longest streak of the season, and is 7-1 since Jason Terry became the starting point guard. The Mavs are averaging over 110 points per game in that span and this was the third time they've hit at least 120.
The Mavs led 77-55 at halftime. By contrast, Indiana has allowed 77 or less in two full games this season.
Hornets 121, Kings 117, OT
In New Orleans, Baron Davis had his first triple-double in more than two seasons, helping the New Orleans end a 10-game losing streak with an overtime victory over Sacramento.
Davis scored 26 points, tied a career high with 17 assists and grabbed his 10th rebound late in overtime to ice the Hornets' third win of the season.
Rookie J.R. Smith tied a career high with 23 points for New Orleans, hitting four 3-pointers to go with several acrobatic inside moves.
Peja Stojakovic scored 37 points on 13-of-23 shooting, with 22 points coming after halftime, for the Kings. Chris Webber had 22 points and 13 rebounds, while Brad Miller had 14 points and 16 rebounds.
Bulls 102, Celtics 91
In Chicago, Kirk Hinrich scored 22 points and tied a career high with 14 assists to lead the Chicago past Boston for its ninth win in 12 games.
Othella Harrington, in a rare start, matched a season high with 19 points on 9-for-12 shooting and grabbed a season-high 10 rebounds for the Bulls, who surged ahead with a 13-0 third-quarter run. Chicago rookie Luol Deng also had 19 points.
Paul Pierce scored 20 for Boston and Tony Allen added 14.
Bucks 89, Jazz 86
In Milwaukee, Michael Redd scored 26 points, including two clinching free throws with 4.8 seconds left as Milwaukee send Utah to its ninth straight loss.
Mike James made a layup with 20.8 seconds left to give the Bucks an 87-86 lead. Milwuakee, which trailed by 10 points with 10:24 left in the fourth quarter, won its third consecutive game.
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