This Late-Night Show Stars Ed O’Bannon and Bruins : College basketball: Senior forward scores 27 points and makes seven three-pointers as UCLA avenges earlier loss to Cal with a 104-88 victory.

He won’t nominate himself for it, says he doesn’t really want or need the attention.

Too late.

Ed O’Bannon launched what you might call a long-distance campaign Thursday night to be considered this year’s national collegiate player of the year and ripped apart California in the process.

Matched against a Cal team UCLA deeply wanted to beat after suffering three consecutive losses to the Bears, O’Bannon busted the Cal zone, making seven of nine three-point attempts and scored 27 points to lead the Bruins to a 104-88 victory at Harmon Gym.

Joining O’Bannon in UCLA’s offensive barrage were the team’s two other seniors, center George Zidek, who seemed to score at will in UCLA’s prolific second half, and point guard Tyus Edney, who set up most of Zidek’s scores with quick drives through the middle of the Golden Bear defense.

Zidek, who has been struggling offensively and been taken out of games for long stretches recently, scored 25 points before fouling out late in the game.

With the victory, second-ranked UCLA, two games ahead of the closest competition with three league games left to play, moved within one conference victory of clinching its first Pacific 10title in three years.

The Bruins have fashioned their eight-game winning streak on the play of Ed O’Bannon and a defense that leads the conference in opponent field-goal defense, and Thursday night was no different.

All game long, the Bruins seemed to make a point to deny freshman forward Tremaine Fowlkes, who outplayed the whole UCLA team with 24 points in Cal’s earlier victory at Pauley.

After Ed O’Bannon shot UCLA to a double-digit lead by halftime, Cal opened up the second half with a show of offensive firepower, but UCLA kept up its scoring, also.

Before five minutes had elapsed in the half, the Bears had scored 14 points and cut an 11-point lead to seven. But Zidek converted two close-in opportunities on passes from Edney to help counter the Cal charge.

With slightly more than 13 minutes left in the game, Ed O’Bannon pushed back Cal by hitting his fifth three-pointer of the night to make it 67-57, and, after Cal’s K.J. Roberts made three-pointer of his own, Edney found Zidek after driving once again, the third time in the half.

O’Bannon’s sixth three-pointer, at 10:45, gave UCLA a 72-62 lead.

Though the Bruins, 20-2 overall and 12-2 in the conference, were playing their fourth game in eight days, UCLA played a crisp first half against the Golden Bears, who, for their part, looked strained and wobbly. Cal dropped its fifth game in its last six and its seventh consecutive at home, and is 12-10, 4-9.

Zidek, who has struggled in recent games, got UCLA going early, dominating the Bears inside and scoring eight of UCLA’s first 15 points.

In the first matchup, Cal, which had beaten UCLA four of the last five times, throttled the Bruins with an aggressive zone defense.

Cal played a 2-3 zone against UCLA for much of the first 20 minutes Thursday, and the Bruins, as they did against Cal in the first matchup, struggled in the first few possessions.

But, after Cal crept out to an 18-15 lead with just over 10 minutes to go in the half keyed by the zone, UCLA broke loose.

With several open-court slams triggered by Cal turnovers or wild shots and four three-point baskets by Ed O’Bannon, the Bruins outscored Cal, 33-19, in the final 10 minutes of the half to take a 48-37 lead.

Along with his brother’s outside shooting, Charles O’Bannon was UCLA’s other main weapon against the Bears’ zone, scoring 10 points on four-of-six shooting, mainly coming on slashes to the hoops and as a result of his three offensive rebounds.

Ed O’Bannon led UCLA with 12 first-half points, and was four of five from three-point distance in the half.

Bears’ reserve guard Roberts, not usually a big offensive weapon, led California with 12 points in 12 minutes of first-half action.

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Pac-10 Race

UCLA, with three conference games remaining, is one victory from clinching its first Pacific 10 Conference title in three years.

Arizona, Arizona State, Oregon and Washington State are the only other teams with mathematical chances to finish first. A look at how the final contenders stand in conference play:

Team W L UCLA 13 2 Arizona 10 4 Arizona State 9 5 Oregon 8 5 Washington State 8 5