Bruin Tournament Hopes Downsized

Stanford has size and strength and a point guard, Chris Hernandez, who can bench press more than 300 pounds. He can also score off the dribble or while standing still 25 feet from the basket or by powering forward through a UCLA defense unable to keep him from making backdoor cuts.

Hernandez scored a career-high 37 points Sunday at Maples Pavilion to lead the Cardinal to a definitive 78-65 win over UCLA in a crucial Pacific 10 Conference game.

Stanford, 15-9 overall and 9-5 in the Pac-10, moved 1 1/2 games ahead of the Bruins (14-9, 8-7) and securely into third place. The victory also gave the Cardinal a regular-season sweep of fourth-place UCLA, which might make a difference when the NCAA tournament committee is selecting at-large teams.

In the teams’ first meeting it was Dan Grunfeld who took apart UCLA’s defense by scoring 25 points from outside and inside. Nine days ago, during a 71-56 victory over California, Grunfeld injured his right knee and was lost for the season. He wasn’t missed, at least on this one day.

“We had no answer for Hernandez,” UCLA Coach Ben Howland said. “He made a number of tough shots. He rebounded, he was great off screens. We told our guys to pick him up two steps behind the three-point line and he still hit the shots.”

Hernandez, who was 13 for 22 from the field and five for nine from three-point range, scored only four points Thursday against USC and four points last month at Pauley Pavilion, when he had a virus and needed pregame intravenous fluids.

Stanford Coach Trent Johnson said Hernandez felt he needed to make up for his first UCLA effort.

“Before the game,” Johnson said, “Chris told me, ‘I didn’t give us anything down there.’ Chris, when he’s shooting the ball and we’re executing and screening, we’re pretty good.”

The Bruins had been filled with confidence after dominating California on Thursday, and they played as if they had momentum for about 10 minutes Sunday. When Arron Afflalo made a three-point shot off an unselfish pass from point guard Jordan Farmar, UCLA led, 23-18. Stanford center Rob Little, who scored 12 important points in the first game, was on the bench with the two fouls he’d committed in the first three minutes.

Over the next eight minutes, though, Stanford outscored UCLA, 23-6. Hernandez made back-to-back three-pointers that put the Cardinal ahead, 29-25, and had 22 points by the time Stanford finished its rush to halftime.

The Cardinal went to the locker room ahead, 41-31, and when the Bruins started the second half by missing nine of their first 10 shots and turning the ball over four times in the first 4 minutes 40 seconds -- three times by Farmar -- Stanford was on its way to building a 22-point lead (62-40).

“I was probably most disappointed when we let their lead get to 10 points by the end of the first half,” Howland said. “But overall they really outplayed us and out-toughed us and that’s disappointing. I thought we had a chance to win this game.”

If there was a positive for the Bruins it was that they had enough oomph to make a late-game run. With 4:48 left, Farmar made two free throws after he was fouled while driving to the basket. It brought UCLA to within 10 points, 67-57. Less than a minute later Stanford’s Matt Haryasz (12 points) missed two foul shots and the Bruins had a glimmer of a chance.

But then Dijon Thompson, who had his sixth double-double of the season with 19 points and 11 rebounds, threw a pass across the court and nearly into Howland’s lap. The Bruins didn’t score again until a Thompson three-pointer with 2:21 left and Stanford leading, 71-57.

Farmar, who had 16 points (12 in the second half), seven assists and seven turnovers, walked out of Maples while being comforted by his father, Damon. Before he retreated into the arms of his dad, a subdued Farmar seemed bewildered.

“You could see it in their eyes,” the freshman said. “They got every loose ball, every offensive rebound. They played with passion and togetherness. They played the way we were supposed to.”

With four games left in the regular season -- USC on Thursday at Pauley Pavilion, at Notre Dame next Sunday and home against Oregon State and Oregon -- there’s not much time left for UCLA to make the passion and togetherness part of its game.