Texas Longhorns Beat Bruins After 13-Minute Power Outage
LOS ANGELES (AP) — J'Covan Brown scored 22 points, Myck Kabongo added 13 and Texas rallied from an 11-point deficit to beat UCLA 69-59 on Saturday in a game delayed nearly 13½ minutes when the lights went out in the first half.
The Longhorns (5-2) seemingly benefited from the power surge that briefly darkened the aging Los Angeles Sports Arena. After the lights came back on, they outscored UCLA 9-4, including five by Brown, to end the half trailing 34-28.
Lazeric Jones scored 21 points and Travis Wear added 13 for the Bruins (2-5), who equaled their worst start since 2002-03, Steve Lavin's last season as coach.
Texas opened the second half on a 12-6 run to tie the game 40-all. The Longhorns took their first lead on Kabongo's open layup that keyed an 11-3 spurt. He followed with a fast-break layup off his own steal, then Sheldon McClellan hit a 3-pointer, Jonathan Holmes made a free throw and Kabongo capped the scoring with a 3-pointer that extended Texas' lead to 51-43.
The Bruins went 7:10 without a field goal during most of the Longhorns' run. They got back into the game on Jones' 10-0 run that included consecutive 3-pointers to close the Bruins to 56-53. But they got no closer.
The Longhorns ran off seven unanswered points, capped by Brown's 3-pointer, to push their lead to 63-53.
The Bruins were leading by 11 points when the lights went out with 3:59 to play in the first half at the arena, where UCLA is playing most of its home games this season while Pauley Pavilion undergoes a major renovation.
The public-address announcer blamed a power surge for the delay. As some of the old-style lights powered back on, the teams shot free throws.
With all but the lights directly above the court back on, the teams resumed play. Texas' Alexis Wangmene returned to the free-throw line and made both shots before UCLA's Joshua Smith missed a layup in the dimmer conditions.
Eventually, all the lighting was restored.
The Bruins were perfect to start the game, hitting their first six shots as all five starters scored en route to a 17-6 lead. It was the first of four 11-point leads they owned in the half as UCLA outscored the Longhorns 20-12 in the paint.
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