Farmar Helps Clear Foul Air

UCLA’s Jordan Farmar had a shooting game to forget -- but made a free throw to remember -- against Drexel on Friday in the consolation game of the NIT Season Tip-Off tournament.

The sophomore missed nine of 10 field-goal attempts and shot an airball on his first free throw with the score tied with less than a second remaining in regulation. But Farmar made his second shot from the line to give No. 16 UCLA a 57-56 victory to salvage the Bruins’ trip to Madison Square Garden.

“I thought it would never happen to me,” Farmar said of his embarrassing miss. “It felt comfortable and it felt good, so when it happened I just had to laugh about it.

“It was funny to me. I just had to calm down and knock the next one down so we could get out of here with a win.”

After a loss to Memphis in a semifinal Wednesday, the Bruins (4-1) needed to score the game’s final six points and hold Drexel to one basket over the final 5:44 to earn a split on their Eastern visit.

“We’re happy to be fortunate to get the win,” UCLA Coach Ben Howland said. “I thought our guys showed a lot of toughness late in the game to be able to just hang in there and make a couple of key plays.”

Leading 30-26 at halftime, UCLA began the second half in a funk and was outscored 14-4 in the next eight minutes. Drexel did most of the damage inside, with Chaz Crawford and Frank Elegar getting open for easy baskets.

That’s when Howland changed up and began to double-team every time the ball got into the post, a tactic that helped slow the Dragons’ power game and allowed the Bruins to come back.

Sophomore Arron Afflalo, who led UCLA with 18 points, found his outside touch and his three second-half, three-point baskets helped the Bruins take a 47-46 lead with 7:04 remaining.

“Coach [Howland] kept telling me, don’t force the issue, but if I was open to take the shot,” said Afflalo, who made four of eight from beyond the arc and held Drexel’s leading scorer, Dominick Mejia, to two points on one-for-eight shooting.

Down the stretch, the Bruins did not play perfect basketball, but they played hard, and that helped them once Drexel took a 56-51 advantage with 3:48 left.

After Afflalo made a three-pointer to cut UCLA’s deficit to two points, the Bruins’ defense forced three turnovers in Drexel’s next four possessions.

The biggest stop came after Afflalo made two of three free throws to tie the score, 56-56, with 6.8 seconds remaining. After a UCLA timeout, the Bruins’ full-court pressure forced Drexel’s Bashir Mason to drop a pass out of bounds, setting the stage for Farmar’s winning free throw.

“I flashed back to Pepperdine a year ago [an 85-83 win], where we pressured the inbounder and denied everything in and sure enough,” Howland said, “he threw the ball out of bounds. ... That was a huge play that turned the momentum of the game there at the end.”

On a play Farmar said was not called for him, he drove the left side of the lane and was fouled by Mason as he attempted a jump shot less than a second remaining. “Not on purpose, but I fouled him,” Mason said.

Farmar, who made three of four free throws in the game, finished with six points and eight assists.

Backup center Lorenzo Mata played well and had eight points and eight rebounds.

Kenell Sanchez led Drexel with 14 points. Elegar and Mason each scored 13.