The Stanford Cardinal’s Oscar da Silva (13) gets the warm reception after scoring a buzzer beater to defeat the visiting UCLA Bruins at Kaiser Permanente Arena in Santa Cruz on Sat Jan 23, 2021 (gostanford.com photo)

By Daniel Dullum
Sports Radio Service
Saturday, January 23, 2021

UCLA thought it had secured an overtime win over Stanford on Saturday when Tyger Campbell converted a three-point play with five seconds left in overtime.

With no time outs, the Cardinal used those five seconds efficiently, culminating in a game-winning layup by Oscar da Silva that gave Stanford a 73-72 Pac 12 men’s basketball victory at its home-away-from-home in Santa Clara before a national television audience.

It was the Bruins’ first conference loss of the season, and it came after UCLA (12-3 overall, 8-1 Pac-12) took a 72-71 lead on Campbell’s layup-plus-1. Stanford moved the ball upcourt with no time outs, and after the Bruins’ Jalen Hill swatted a 3-point attempt by Jaiden Delaire out of bounds near the basket, 0.8 seconds remained.

On the inbound play, no one sealed off da Silva, who sliced through the lane unobstructed, took Michael O’Connell’s pass and converted a layup with 0.1 seconds showing.

Stanford and UCLA each had a chance to win in regulation. Da Silva missed a layup with 22 seconds left, and Campbell missed a jump shot from the left elbow.

Da Silva – Stanford’s leading scorer – finished with 26 points. The Cardinal (9-5, 5-3) played without starters Ziaire Williams, Daejon Davis and Bryce Wills. Dalaire added 19 points, including a steal-and-dunk with 1:39 to play.

Johnny Juzang, a transfer from Kentucky, led UCLA with 27 points, including the Bruins’ final 16 points of the first half. Jaime Jaquez Jr. added 14 points.

Stanford remains undefeated in five games at Kaiser Permanente Arena, home of the Golden State Warriors’ G-League team. The Cardinal are still unable to play at Maples Pavilion due to COVID-19 restrictions.

The Cardinal hit the road for their next four games – at Arizona on Thursday and at Arizona State next Saturday; then at USC on Feb. 2 and at California on Feb. 4.