California Golden Bears at UCLA Bruins

Wear's career-high leads UCLA past Cal 76-64

The Bruins (16-4, 5-2 Pac-12) led just 55-52 with 7 minutes remaining, but finished the game on a 21-12 run to pull into a tie for second place in the conference standings with the Golden Bears (14-6, 5-2).

Bryce Alford scored 13 points, Jordan Adams had 12 and Normal Powell added 11 and to give the Bruins five players in double figures for the seventh time this season.

Jordan Mathews scored 18 points and Justin Cobbs scored 14 to lead Cal, which dropped its second straight conference game after beginning Pac-12 play 5-0. The Golden Bears, who lost to USC on Wednesday, never led at any point in their two games this week.

While Cal never led, they did make things interesting with a furious second half comeback attempt. Down 51-32 early in the second half, Jabari Bird led the Golden Bears on a 20-4 run to pull within three. Bird scored 12 points in the spurt, which spanned just over 8 minutes.

But after Mathews' 3-pointer from the left wing cut the Bruins lead to three, Anderson and Alford took over to prevent a UCLA collapse.

Anderson converted a three-point play on the ensuing possession and followed with a jumper. Alford nailed a jumper and converted a layup on the next two possessions and then found Adams under the basket to give the Bruins a double-digit lead again at 66-55 with 3:22 remaining. Cal didn't have another comeback, and UCLA coasted from there to improve to 13-1 at Pauley Pavilion this season.

Alford scored 11 of his points in the final 8 minutes, including going 5 of 6 from the free throw line.

The Bruins shot 44.8 percent (26 of 58) from the field in the contest, including 55.6 percent (5 of 9) from 3-point range.

The Golden Bears meanwhile shot just 34.5 percent from the field, including 19 percent (4 of 21) from beyond the arc.

UCLA outdid Cal by just about every other statistical measure as well. The Bruins outrebounded the Golden Bears, outscored them both in the paint and off the bench and had more blocks, steals and assists.

Wear needed only 20 minutes to tie his season-high in scoring, pouring in 16 points in the first half to help stake UCLA to a 40-29 halftime lead. Eight of those points came during a 14-2 run that gave the Bruins a 14-point lead near the break.

Wear's previous career-high of 17 points also came against Cal, back on Dec. 31, 2011.

How can I watch California vs. UCLA?

• TV Channel: California at UCLA 2021 College Basketball, week 12, is broadcasted on ESPNU.
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