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Cal can’t pull off another miracle comeback 

The Associated Press 

LOS ANGELES – Dan Gadzuric heard cheers instead of whistles, and his lack of foul trouble provided a defensive difference for No. 13 UCLA. 

For the first time in four games, Gadzuric had fouls to give in the second half when the Bruins needed his presence to beat California 64-57 on Saturday. 

“If we keep Dan out of foul trouble and play good defense, we’ll win,” said Billy Knight, who had 16 points as the Bruins avoided a three-game losing streak for the first time in two years. 

Gadzuric had no fouls in the first half. He finished with 13 points and 11 rebounds in 34 minutes. He wasn’t whistled for his first foul until there was 8:26 remaining, drawing cheers from 12,275 at Pauley Pavilion. 

“I tried my best to stay out of foul trouble. I did a good job, I got to play a lot more and be a lot more of a presence in there,” he said. 

The Bruins (14-5) moved into a tie for third in the Pac-10 at 6-3 with No. 10 Arizona, and avoided a sweep by the Bay Area schools at the midpoint of the conference season. 

UCLA lost 86-76 to No. 17 Stanford on Thursday, and had blown a 20-point lead before losing to the Wildcats a week ago. 

“We really needed this game,” UCLA’s T.J. Cummings said. “We needed to get back on top of our game. This was our opportunity to be able to hop back on top.” 

California (14-4, 5-3) had its four-game winning streak snapped and dropped into a tie with Stanford for third in the league. 

Jason Kapono led the Bruins with 17 points. 

Joe Shipp scored 15 points to lead the Golden Bears, who tossed up several desperation 3-point attempts in the final minute. But they all missed, unlike Thursday night when the Bears surprised No. 23 Southern California 92-91 in overtime on a 3-pointer by Shantay Legans. 

The Bears, the league’s worst 3-point shooting team, were 5-of-15 from beyond the arc. Legans missed all six of his attempts. 

“People say Dan is foul-prone, but we didn’t test him,” Cal freshman Jamal Sampson said. “We didn’t get the ball inside and we didn’t hit outside down the stretch. We made so many outside shots against USC, I think we depended on that too much.” 

Gadzuric’s defense helped the Bruins hold the Bears to a season-low 20 field goals on 37 percent shooting. 

“When he plays 30-plus minutes, we’re a dominant team,” UCLA coach Steve Lavin said. “Dan did a better job of staying on his feet and not putting himself in the position where he’s off-balance or lunging or reaching or even giving an official a chance to make a call. Just stay down and be big.” 

Although UCLA led the entire second half, twice the Bears got within one point with 10 minutes remaining. Both times the Bruins answered with baskets — on a layup by Matt Barnes off freshman Cedric Bozeman’s alley-oop pass and freshman Dijon Thompson’s score off a steal. 

Bozeman scored inside to give UCLA a 50-45 lead with 8:54 remaining. Free throws by Sampson and Shipp drew California within three. 

Gadzuric missed two consecutive 1-and-1 opportunities, then Bozeman missed the front end of a 1-and-1 as the Bruins clung to their three-point lead. 

But Knight then sparked a 14-10 run with two consecutive baskets to close out a game in which the Bruins tied their second-lowest scoring output of the season. They also had 64 points in a victory over Columbia. 

The Bears had planned to attack Gadzuric, a strategy that Stanford used effectively in its win. 

“Gadzuric is the most active big man in the Pac-10. If he doesn’t get in foul trouble, he’s a real threat,” California coach Ben Braun said. “I told the guys they were settling for too many perimeter shots and not taking the opportunities to go inside.” 

Kapono’s basket gave UCLA a six-point lead and then he hit two free throws to stretch the lead to nine points with 22 seconds left. 

The Bruins fell behind by six with seven minutes left in the first half on a series of turnovers and fouls. Dennis Gates hit consecutive 3-pointers to give the Bears their largest lead of the half, 23-17. 

UCLA revived itself with a 15-7 run, including 12 in a row, to end the half ahead 32-30. Kapono hit a 3-pointer off a steal and Bozeman followed with a 3.