STANFORD TAKES UCLA DOWN A PEG

Pauley Pavilion’s reputation for being hard on visitors has taken a beating this week.

Two teams have ended their Pauley losing streaks just as the arena in which UCLA has a 363-39 record is celebrating its 25th birthday.

Stanford’s 70-69 victory Sunday over No. 23 UCLA came three days after a victory by California that snapped the Bruins’ 11-game home winning steak.

“We haven’t won here forever,” Cardinal coach Mike Montgomery said. “I’m as proud of these kids as I can be.”

Andrew Vlahov scored a career-high 20 points to lead the Cardinal (15-8 overall and 7-7 in the Pacific 10), who held off a late rally by the Bruins (16-7 and 9-5).

The loss was the third straight for UCLA, which has dropped four of its last six games.

Trailing 70-68 with four seconds remaining, the Bruins had a chance to tie when Trevor Wilson was fouled. But he missed the first of two foul shots, and the Cardinal ran out the clock.

“With four seconds left we thought about having Wilson miss his second foul shot, but I don’t like to overcoach,” UCLA coach Jim Harrick said. “I would have liked him to make both free throws.”

“Stanford led, 67-56, with 3:51 to play on Marcus Lolle’s two free throws. But UCLA’s fullcourt press harassed Stanford, and the Bruins outscored the Cardinal 13-3 from that point.

“The second half was rocky ,” Montgomery said. “At the end UCLA was taking it to us and we couldn’t seem to do much.”

Stanford’s only points in the span came from free throws.

Vlahov fouled out with 2:17 remaining and the score 67-60.

Averaging less than 10 points entering the game, he scored 14 points in the first half as Stanford rolled to 37-26 halftime lead.

Harrick said the Bruins keyed their defense to Stanford’s leading scorer, Adam Keefe, but the strategy backfired.

“We held Keefe to two baskets but then Vlahov got mine,” Harrick said. “I didn’t expect that.”

The Bruins’ offense struggled throughout, with the team shooting less than 41 percent from the field./

“We didn’t shoot the ball well,” Harrick said. “Standord’s defense is as good as you’ll see in the league.”

The Bruins closed within 60-56 with 6:20 to play, but Stanford scored the next seven points to keep the advantage.