After 32 Attempts Against Bruins, Cal Finally Loves L.A. : Bruins: Bears end 30 years of frustration in Los Angeles as they get first victory in Pauley Pavilion.

The California Golden Bears showed early on Thursday night at Pauley Pavilion that they would not be daunted by the failures of their predecessors, who hadn’t beaten UCLA in Los Angeles in 30 years.

“The crowd got on us from the get-go,” said Cal’s Roy Fisher. “But in the second half, it was like, ‘Who’s up now?’ ”

It was the surging Golden Bears, who limited the Bruins to 41.2% shooting and won, 79-71, in front of 10,788.

The victory was Cal’s first in Pauley after 25 consecutive losses--”Never won, never will,” the Bruin students had chanted--and their first over the Bruins in Los Angeles since Feb. 20, 1960, ending a streak of 32 losses.

Afterward, all the stunned Bruin student section could offer in response was a half-hearted jab from a forlorn fan: “About time.”

Keith Smith scored 22 points and Fisher scored 21 for the Bears, who won for only the third time in their last 63 games against UCLA.

“That’s as sweet a victory as I’ve had since I’ve been at Cal,” said the Bears’ fifth-year coach, Lou Campanelli.

Said UCLA’s Mitchell Butler, after the Bruins lost for the first time in 12 games at Pauley this season: “It’s pretty embarrassing. I think we were laid-back and complacent. That can happen after winning at home all the time.”

UCLA, which lost for the third time in five games, never led after Bill Elleby made a three-point shot from the left wing to give Cal a 49-46 lead with 13:05 left. The Bears, who made 50.9% of their shots, twice increased their lead to 11 points before UCLA rallied in the last few minutes.

The loss dropped the Bruins to 16-6 overall and 9-4 in the Pac-10, costing them a chance to gain ground on first-place Oregon State, which lost at Washington, 66-57, and fell to 11-2 in the conference.

Cal (18-6, 9-4) moved into a third-place tie with UCLA. The Bears are hoping to land a berth in the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1960, when they lost to Ohio State in the championship game.

“Obviously, they weren’t intimidated,” said UCLA’s Don MacLean, who made only five of 14 shots and was limited to 12 points.

Last month, in a 106-97 victory over the Bears at Berkeley, MacLean contributed 27 points and 12 rebounds and said afterward of Campanelli, his coach last summer at the Olympic Sports Festival: “I don’t think I’m going to let him beat me for the next three years. I’m going to make sure of that.”

But MacLean, who didn’t like the way Campanelli used him at the Sports Festival, wasn’t the only Bruin who struggled.

Freshman Tracy Murray made only five of 17 shots after making four of 18 last Saturday at Arizona, and Darrick Martin made only four of 11.

Murray and Trevor Wilson led the Bruins with 13 points each.

Freshman center Brian Hendrick scored 13 points and took eight rebounds for Cal, and Elleby scored 11 points in 26 minutes off the bench.

Midway through the first half, the Bears put together an 8-0 run, including a pair of layups by Smith, to take a 28-21 lead.

They led at halftime, 34-29.

UCLA made only 33.3% of its shots in the half after making just 39.2% last Saturday at Tucson in an 83-74 loss to Arizona. The front line of MacLean, Murray and Wilson was a combined five of 18 from the field in the first 20 minutes and was limited to 14 points, including seven by Murray. Murray also took eight rebounds in the first half, but only one in the second.

“I don’t think we came in here thinking about the streak,” Fisher said. “But the crowd let us know when they started their chant. Hey, I’ve only lost to these guys twice. I didn’t care about the streak.”

Bruin Notes

Since spraining his right wrist in a fall against USC Feb. 1 at the Sports Arena, UCLA’s Trevor Wilson has made only 10 of 33 free throws. Said commentator Al McGuire during NBC’s telecast of last week’s UCLA-Arizona game: “Even with a sprained wrist, you should shoot better than that.” But UCLA Coach Jim Harrick said this week that he considered giving Wilson this week off to recuperate. “To me, he’s not even remotely the same player (since the injury),” Harrick said.

Don MacLean is on pace to surpass Sean Elliott of Arizona as the Pac-10’s all-time leading scorer. With at least six more games to play this season, the 6-10 sophomore has scored 1,015 points in 53 games at UCLA. Elliott scored 1,077 points in his first two seasons at Arizona.