Pickens scores career-high 26; Stanford beats UCLA in 2OT

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Friday, January 5, 2018

STANFORD, Calif. -- Dorian Pickens scored a career-high 26 points, including a 3-pointer in the final two minutes of the second overtime, to help Stanford surprise UCLA 107-99 in Pac-12 Conference action Thursday night.

Daejon Davis added a season-best 22 points for the Cardinal (7-8, 1-1), who have beaten the Bruins three of the past four meetings at home.

"We haven't won in a while," Davis said. "Now I'm looking forward to more moments like this."

Aaron Holiday scored 31 points, 29 after halftime, and hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer of the first overtime to tie the game at 94 and give UCLA (11-4, 2-1) new life.

"We're not the super over-talented offensive team that we were a year ago, so we can't just rely on offense," UCLA coach Steve Alford said. "We scored enough. We did enough offensively, even with the bad foul shooting, but we just didn't get any stops in the second half. We couldn't close it out, we have to figure that out."

Pickens also hit a 3-pointer with seven seconds remaining in regulation to tie it at 85 and send the game into overtime.

"I just wanted to get a shot up," Pickens said. "I pumped faked and he went up so I got a good look and it felt good."

Kezie Okpala dunked with 33 seconds left and Oscar Da Silva came up with a huge block in the final five seconds of the first overtime. Okpala hit 1-of-2 free throws to put Stanford ahead 94-91 before Holiday's 3-pointer.

Kris Wilkes had 18 points, Gyorgy Goloman scored 14 and Prince Ali added 16 points for the Bruins, who had a four-game win streak snapped.

"We couldn't guard Davis," Alford said. "Davis was terrific. Pickens was terrific. First half, Travis was really good, we just didn't have an answer, really, for Pickens and Davis."

Michael Humphrey, who finished with 14 points, sank a pair of free throws early in overtime to give Stanford its first lead since 32-30 late in the first half.

Reid Travis scored 14 of his 18 points in the first half and finished with 11 rebounds for his fourth double-double of the season. He fouled out with 2:22 left in regulation.

THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT

By the end of the game, Pickens was surrounded by four freshmen. Reid Travis fouled out in regulation and Michael Humphrey followed in the first overtime. "You can't call them kids anymore," Pickens said. "They played phenomenal tonight. They have so much experience now." Davis, who played 45 of the 50 minutes, said he was confident the whole game. "I know how hard we've been working in practice," he said. "I knew everybody was engaged in the game."

BIG PICTURE

UCLA: Scheduling has not been a friend to the Bruins, who lost their only two true road games. UCLA has played two games against Top-25 teams, losing to No. 25 Cincinnati and beating No. 7 Kentucky. Despite an impressive winning percentage, the Bruins are 38th in the RPI ratings.

Stanford: Dorian Pickens played his second game since returning from a right foot injury. He's given the Cardinal another 3-point shooter. After going 2-of-13 in his first two games before the injury, Pickens is 8 of 17 from behind the 3-point line over the past two games. ... Junior guard Marcus Sheffield, also recovering from a foot injury, still hasn't suited up for a game. He recorded 12 double-digit scoring games in his first two years.

UP NEXT

UCLA: Plays at California on Saturday.

Stanford: Hosts USC on Sunday.