UCLA men’s basketball falls to Cal
By Blair Angulo
Feb. 6, 2010 2:32 p.m.
UCLA couldn’t have started any better on Saturday.
The Bruins were tied atop the Pac-10 conference standings and held a 14-point lead over California. Two standing ovations later, things were looking up for UCLA on national television.
Then the Bruins sped up and it was back to square one.
Cal took advantage and closed the first half with an 18-2 run that seemingly rattled UCLA (11-12, 6-5 Pac-10), leading to a 72-58 Cal victory.
“They just out-manned us,” said senior guard Michael Roll, who posted a game-high 22 points.
Roll had little help to offset Cal’s dynamic duo of Patrick Christopher and Theo Robertson, who each pitched in 20 points. Guard Jerome Randle added 14 for the Golden Bears, which improved to 15-8 overall and 7-4 in conference play.
“They were picked first for a reason,” coach Ben Howland said in reference to Cal’s preseason billing as the projected conference winner.
UCLA was outscored by seven in each half, but had closed the deficit to just three with over 11 minutes to play. Cal closed on a 24-13 run to seal things up.
