Jan. 22, 2005

Box Score

By BETH HARRIS
AP Sports Writer

LOS ANGELES - David Paris scored a career-high 20 points and California defeated UCLA 64-51 Saturday, snapping a four-game losing streak at Pauley Pavilion, where the crowd booed the Bruins.

The Golden Bears (9-8, 2-5 Pac-10) came in as the conference's worst team, but they looked stellar against UCLA's horrible defense.

The Bruins (10-6, 4-4) lost their third straight and second in a row at Pauley. For the second consecutive game, they fell behind in the first half (15 points) and never made a run in the second. The same thing happened in a 75-64 loss to Stanford on Thursday.

Paris has quickly become one of the most improved players in the Pac-10 after starting the season with a career average of 1.6 points. He topped his career high of 16 points set against UC Riverside in the season opener.

The Bears finally held on to a second-half lead after blowing their leads in six of eight losses, including at Southern California on Thursday. It was their first win at Pauley since 2000.

Rod Benson added 14 points and a career-high 14 rebounds for Cal.

With four minutes remaining, fans emptied out of Pauley and into the warm sunshine, leaving behind the gloom of an ugly loss. UCLA's point total was a season-low; the Bruins' previous worst was 64 points against Stanford.

Even when the Bruins capitalized on a Cal turnover, they botched it. Senior Dijon Thompson promptly threw the ball away on the other end, and Cal ended up scoring. UCLA never got closer than nine points early in the second half.

Michael Fey led the Bruins in scoring for the second straight game with 12 points, and Arron Afflalo added 10. Thompson tied his season-low of six points set Thursday.

Brian Morrison scored inside to draw the Bruins to 39-30. Cal used a 19-7 run, including eight points by Dominic McGuire and six by Paris, to take its largest lead, 58-37 with 7:18 to play.

The Bruins scored just four baskets in the final 6:58 - and three of them came in the final minute, making the game appear closer than it was

In the first half, freshman Josh Shipp scored off Morrison's miss to tie the game at 10. Then the Bears took over, outscoring the Bruins 23-8 to end the half ahead 33-18.

UCLA went about nine minutes without a field goal until Thompson scored his first of the game during Cal's run. Fans booed the Bruins as they left the court at halftime.

The Bruins shot a measley 23 percent from the floor in the half, while Cal shot 45 percent and controlled the boards, 27-16.