Bruins No Longer Red in Face, 64-56

SAN FRANCISCO —  The “Rebuild UCLA” project began here Saturday, with the smoke still in the air and the emotions still a little frayed.

Hey, you win one, you lose one by 48.

In a display of their remarkable and often-tested survival skills, the Bruins pushed and shoved their way to a 64-56 victory over California before 11,054 at the Cow Palace, completing another ho-hum 1-1 Bay Area trip.

“Losing by 48 points obviously can be a humiliating experience,” said UCLA interim Coach Steve Lavin, referring to the Bruins’ 109-61 defeat at Stanford on Thursday, the worst loss in Bruin history.

“It was tough on everybody. It’s a cliche, a ‘Sesame Street,’ Mr. Rogers kind of thing,” he said. “But it’s not about getting knocked down, it’s what you do after getting knocked down.

“Are you going to lie down and get beat again or are you going to fight back and make the plays to win a game?”

Saturday afternoon, led by Charles O’Bannon’s career-high 16 rebounds, Cameron Dollar’s eight assists and career-high-tying seven steals and Kris Johnson’s shooting, the Bruins made the plays that (have you heard this before?) saved the season.

Said Johnson, who had a season-high 21 points, 15 of them in the second half: “Stanford just punked us. They just pushed us around. And Coach Lavin kind of challenged our pride to see if we could stand up and fight today.”

Though aftershocks continued to roll through the Bruin landscape--they had 16 turnovers in a dodgy first half, were kept in the game early because of Cal’s disorganization, and shot only 44.4% in the game--UCLA found the will to scrap for loose balls and rebounds in the second half, then turned Johnson loose.

With 12:49 to play, the score was tied, 36-36, and it was crossroads time again.

From there, O’Bannon seemed to find every rebound (he had 14 in the second half), Dollar swiped at everything, and UCLA responded by going on an 18-7 run over the next eight minutes to take a decisive, 54-43 lead that held up over the last three-plus minutes.

“We knew UCLA would bounce back, and they did,” said Cal Coach Ben Braun, whose team fell to 10-5 overall, 1-3 in the Pacific 10 Conference, and shot only 30% (18 for 60) from the field.

Johnson, who scored a career-high 36 points last season at Pauley Pavilion against Cal, started the run with a three-point basket over the Golden Bear zone and scored 11 during the streak, making all five of his field-goal tries and getting fouled twice.

“It’s nothing about Cal, but it seems like every time I’m either sick or injured, I have to concentrate more on just playing,” said Johnson, who aggravated a lingering back problem in practice Friday, “and I’m more into it mentally.”

J.R. Henderson, who was in foul trouble and missed time after getting bopped in the eye while going for a rebound in the second half, went around Cal post players Sean Marks and Alfred Grigsby for two baskets to finish off the game-deciding run.

Toby Bailey had an off-shooting night (two for 10), but he grabbed seven first-half rebounds and drew Bear scoring machine Ed Gray most of the time in the Bruin zone, harrying him into nine-for-28 shooting (29 points).

Overall, the Bruins outrebounded Cal, 44-33, after getting waxed by the Cardinal, 45-26.

UCLA also got an improved effort from sophomore center Jelani McCoy, who came off the bench to make six of eight shots and both free throws, grabbed four rebounds and scored 14 points in 24 minutes.

“The sixth-man role was cool for this situation, but I’m looking forward to getting back into the starting lineup,” McCoy said, though Lavin made no indication about his future lineup plans.

The victory lifted the Bruins to an 8-4 overall record, and kept them, at 3-1 in the Pac-10, in relatively good shape for next weekend’s games at Pauley Pavilion against the Arizona schools.

“What makes it great is that we knew everybody was going to say the sky is falling in Westwood, the Bruins are in ruins,” said Lavin, a Marin County native who was coaching in front of most of his family. “But, instead, we didn’t let those external pressures get to us and we responded.

“It’s a sweet win. Now I want to see us sustain it--you don’t want to always have to hit the valley in order to reach a peak.”

* TROJANS TROUNCED

No. 21 Stanford used a 17-4 run late in the game to pull away from USC, 85-70. C6

* WILDCATS TAMED

Joezon Darby had 19 points as unranked Mississippi shocked No. 3 Kentucky, 73-69. C8