Farmar Big in Clutch Again

UCLA guard Arron Afflalo, the team’s leading scorer, was on the sideline, clutching his bruised left hip. Center Lorenzo Mata was on the court, trying to breathe through cotton balls stuffed up a nose that might be broken.

Guard Jordan Farmar, trying to play on a sprained ankle that has bothered him for nearly two months, was again struggling with his shot, having made only one of six from the floor on a day when the Bruins were a combined one-for-15 from three-point range.

And the Arizona State Sun Devils, looking for their first Pacific 10 Conference victory of the season, were even with the 17th-ranked Bruins with less than a minute to play Saturday afternoon at the Wells Fargo Arena after UCLA had played listless and mistake-prone basketball in the first half.

“This was a gut-check deal,” UCLA Coach Ben Howland said.

It was a deal Farmar sealed. Shaking off the pain from his sprain and the rust from his shot, the sophomore scored on a jumper and a layup in the final 35 seconds to enable his team to escape with a 61-60 victory.

“As the point guard and the team leader,” Farmar said, “it’s my job to find a way to win.”

It didn’t figure to be that tough. UCLA came into the game 12-2, coming off a big victory over Arizona on Thursday night in Tucson and looking for its third win in four conference games. The Sun Devils (6-7), were winless in three previous conference games and coming off a potentially morale-busting defeat against USC on Thursday night in which the Trojans’ Lodrick Stewart beat Arizona State on a three-pointer with 2.1 seconds to play.

But UCLA’s play in the first half was a momentum-killer. It was a total team effort for the Bruins, who played poorly in every aspect of the game. They shot a dismal 24% from the floor, including several airballs and a blown uncontested dunk by Luc Richard Mbah a Moute. At one point, Josh Shipp let the ball slip out of his hands and roll out of bounds without a defender in his face.

“We were flat,” said Howland, which is about the nicest thing he could say.

Afflalo, who led the Bruins with 21 points, wasn’t buying the fatigue excuse. “We are all young men,” he said, “and this is what we do. Kids our age should be able to play all day.”

Trailing, 29-23, at the half, the Bruins regained their touch after intermission and regained the lead, but never by more than five points.

When Arizona State forward Serge Angounou scored on a dunk with 57 seconds to play, part of his career-high 23 points, the score was tied at 57.

Farmar responded by making a floating jumper from about 10 feet out to put UCLA back in front, 59-57, with 35 seconds to play.

“I was just trying to be aggressive,” Farmar said.

So were the Sun Devils. Bryson Krueger made a three-pointer, putting Arizona State in the lead, 60-59, with 14 seconds remaining.

UCLA was out of timeouts, having spent its last after Farmar’s basket.

“I was worried about them taking the ball out and getting it in quick,” Howland said.

No matter, Farmar said.

“The clock was running, but we were all calm,” he said. “There was plenty of time.”

Farmar came down the lane, and sailed through the defense for the layup that proved to be the winning points, giving UCLA its first road sweep of the Arizona schools since 1997.

“There was no one stopping me,” Farmar said. “I got a few bumps, but that was being in the weight room all summer paying off.”

The scoreboard clock showed 3.6 seconds remaining when Farmar’s shot slipped through the net.

The Sun Devils got the ball to their three-point specialist, Kevin Kruger, who had already made three of six from that range Saturday. He let one fly from just past midcourt even though, with a little more than two seconds to go, he had a chance to get closer.

“When I saw it in the air, I knew it was short,” Farmar said. “We got it done.”