By Matthew T.F. Harrington

STANFORD, Calif. –The Stanford Cardinal erased a 22-point deficit but fell a basket short of topping UCLA, falling to the Bruins 69-67 at Maples Pavilion Thursday night.

“You can’t get behind by that many points in a collegiate game,” said Stanford coach Johnny Dawkins. “You can’t get behind, especially against a good team. That’s what we did. We dug ourselves a hole and we couldn’t quite climb out of it.”

Stanford (15-7, 6-4 Pac-12) raced out to an 8-4 just 3:47 into the contest but failed to build on its four-point edge. Instead, UCLA (14-9, 6-4) went on a 27-7 tear to take a half-best 16 point lead with 3:30 left in the interval. The Cardinal scored the next three baskets down the stretch, capping the run with a three-pointer by Anthony Brown to pull the home team within six at 31-25.

“We cut it to six,” said Dawkins. “We started the second we a renewed focus, a renewed energy to try to chip away at the lead. They ended up building on the lead.”

UCLA’s Isaac Hamilton hoisted a three just eight seconds into the second half that deflated the Cardinal. The Bruins then went on a 23-10 run to build a game-high 22 point lead, appearing to be well on the path to a rout with just over 11 minutes left in regulation up 57-34.

“You work that hard to get the lead down to 11, then in the first 4 minutes it goes back to 17,” said Stanford forward Anthony Brown. “All that energy, you just basically wasted it.”

The Cardinal didn’t go quietly, however. Stanford scored 27 points over the next 7 minutes while limiting UCLA to just 10.

“Towards the end, we were making the extra pass or connecting play,” said Brown. “In the first half, none of our jumpers were in rhythm. They were extremely deep or off the first or second pass.”

The Cardinal shot 10 for 27 from the field in the first half. They hit 14 of 30 in the second.

“In the second half we were finding the next guy,” said Brown. “We were making the extra pass. It was in rhythm.”

Trailing by just six, Stanford’s Marcus Allen hit a free throw with 1:13 left in regulation. He missed the second shot, but the Cardinal forced a Bryce Alford three-pointer off basket.

Rosco Allen pulled down the rebound, then on the ensuing possession took a three-pointer. His shot went off the mark, but Anthony Brown picked up the rebound and laid it up to put Stanford down 67-64 with 22 seconds left.

Brown then fouled Norman Powell on the inbound, putting the Bruin guard at the line with the UCLA in the bonus. Powell missed the shot, with Cardinal center Stefan Nastic pulling in the rebound. He handed the ball to Chasson Randle, who raced down the court with a chance for the game-tying shot.

Instead of opting to hold on to the ball for a set play, Randle drove hard to the basket, losing his handle on the basketball with 10 seconds left. The Cardinal again used a foul to put Powell on the line, with Powell converting on the first free throw while missing the second. Brown came down with board, allowing Rosco Allen to hit a trey with 5 seconds left to put Stanford back just one at 68-67.

The Cardinal put Alford at the line again, hitting one of two shots to give Stanford one last possession with a chance to tie –or even win- the contest on its final shot, but Randle’s buzzer beater hit off the backboard and the rim before falling to the court.

It’s not the first time Stanford and UCLA have come down to the final shot in regulation or beyond. Earlier this season it took double-overtime to decide a winner, with UCLA taking the January 8th meeting in Los Angeles 86-81.

“We played them down there, we were up by 14,” said Brown. “They came back. We just tried to fight, stick with what we were doing and get as close as possible.”

In that contest, Kevon Looney and Tony Parker combined for 49 points to down the Cardinal. Thursday night, it was Hamilton(18 points), Alford (18) and Powell (20) who led the charge.

“We definitely had an emphasis to slow down Looney and slow down Parker,” said Dawkins, recalling their performances from a month ago. “It was important that we tried to contain those guys and know where they were on the floor and give them our attention. I thought we did a really good job on those guys. But it was Hamilton and Alford and Powell on the perimeter who tonight really hurt us.”

“We knew that Hamilton could score,” said Brown. “He was a McDonald’s All-American so we knew he could play. Our emphasis for the game was to stop the inside. He came out and hit some shots right away.”

Brown topped the Cardinal with 19 points, while Randle and Rosco Allen pitched in 13 apiece.

Stanford’s pair of defeats to UCLA may prove costly come March. The two teams, predicted to finish fourth (UCLA) and fifth (Stanford) in preseason polls, currently sit tied for third in the standings at 6-4 along with Oregon State and Oregon. UCLA now holds the tie-breaker over Stanford and could force the Cardinal out of a first-round bye in the Pac-12 tournament in Las Vegas.

For now the Cardinal have a bigger concern. After dropping a shocker to Washington State Saturday, Stanford is now on its first two-game losing streak of the season. The Cardinal has very little time to bolster its NCAA tournament credentials with only 8 games remaining in the regular season. Among those games are tough draws against Utah and Arizona as well as match-ups with Oregon and Oregon State.

“We’ve got eight games left,” said Brown. “We just have to take it one game at a time. It’s not the first time we’ve lost two in a row. We started last year losing two in a row. We have to take it day-by-day. Just as fast as you can lose two in a row, you can win three, win four.”

Stanford does have a chance to get back to its winning ways in a hurry. They welcome the University of Southern California, the last-place team in the Pac-12, in a Sunday evening contest.

“Adversity is part of the season,” said Dawkins. “Most teams are going to face adversity at some point. We’re facing adversity right now. For me, it’s ‘What do we do with that’. We need to make sure we’re going in the right direction having faced what we faced the last couple games.”