Nothing’s the matter with Mata

Lorenzo Mata made eight of his nine free-throw attempts and maybe that wasn’t the most compelling part of UCLA’s 85-75 Pacific 10 Conference victory over California on Thursday night at Pauley Pavilion. But it was the most celebrated.

The slam dunks from Josh Shipp or the way Darren Collison’s quick hands scrambled the Bears’ attempts to run their offense in the second half couldn’t have been as demoralizing as Mata’s pinpoint aim.

Mata, who finished with a career-high 14 points, has doggedly worked on his foul shooting and has been adamant in proclaiming that his average of 30.9% coming into this game was not a true measure of his ability.

So he made his first seven against California (14-13, 6-9) and combined with two in a row last Saturday against Arizona, the junior center had a streak of nine going. Then he missed, but only once. Mata groaned at the one mistake. The crowd of 11,230 cheered for all the ones made.

The fourth-ranked Bruins (24-3, 13-2) also have a streak going. They won their 19th straight game at Pauley Pavilion and now have a two-game conference lead over Washington State. With a win over Stanford on Saturday, UCLA can clinch at least a share of the regular-season championship.

The Bruins pulled away after a 35-34 halftime lead, and UCLA Coach Ben Howland and California Coach Ben Braun were shaking hands with about five seconds left in the game because of UCLA’s emphatic second-half performance.

Cal did shoot 60.5% for the game and that gave Howland something to grumble about afterward.

“Cal came out and played a solid first half,” he said. “They caused us problems with their patience offensively. They shot 66% in the first half, 54% in the second half. They made five or six baskets in the last five minutes when we did a very poor job of guarding with a nice lead.”

A one-point UCLA halftime lead became a nine-point lead, 47-38, when Mata made a layup and a free throw. That nine-point advantage became 12, then 14 and up to 72-48. After UCLA increased the lead to 26, Howland let second-stringers Ryan Wright, James Keefe and Nikola Dragovic get minutes.

While UCLA’s late defensive play might have left Howland a little crabby, he was thrilled for Mata.

“Lorenzo’s foul shooting was a big lift for us,” Howland said. “I’m just happy for him. He’s put the work in. And the one he missed was right there. Most of them were dead-on swishes.”

Shipp led UCLA with 22 points, a nice follow-up to the 24 he’d scored against Arizona last week. It’s the first time this season Shipp has scored 20 or more points in consecutive games.

“With Josh, the last game, the light went on,” Howland said.

The light didn’t go on for UCLA until the second half. As the Bears kept running past them or shooting over them, the Bruins were down by 10 points within the first five minutes.

Cal freshman Ryan Anderson made two three-pointers and it looked easy for the 6-foot-10 forward. Omar Wilkes blew past the UCLA defense twice for layups.

But the Bruins survived the initial exuberance of the Bears. By the margin of a Shipp free throw with 3.2 seconds left, UCLA had a narrow lead at the half.

The best offensive flurry for UCLA came at what seemed a desperate time. Collison got his second foul with 11:31 left in the half. Howland planted Collison immediately on the bench and freshman Russell Westbrook came in.

Westbrook drove to the basket twice in a row. Both times he made the shots and got fouled. Westbrook missed one of the free throws, but his energetic scoring was a boost to UCLA.

“We came out more confident” in the second half, said Arron Afflalo, who made five of nine shots and scored 13 points. “Once we got into the game, we got into a nice groove.”

It’s a groove that free-throw expert Mata likes. Some opponents have taken to fouling him on purpose, rather than allowing a layup, but Mata has advice for them.

“I’m making them,” he said. “Don’t foul me any more.”