How Sweet (16) It Is for UCLA

Originally posted at 11:22 p.m. March 23, 2014. Edited with new detailed.

In the opening game of the doubleheader, UCLA defeated Stephen F. Austin, 77-60, advancing to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2008.

Guard Jordan Adams scored 19 and guard Norman Powell, an alumnus of Lincoln High School, as the Bruins, seeded fourth in the South Region, ended the Lumberjacks' 29-game winning streak.

UCLA (28-8) was tied three times and trailed twice before taking the lead for good on an 8-0 run that began 14 minutes, 43 seconds before halftime.

The Bruins led 42-32 at halftime and led by at least seven and as many as 20 in the second half.

"It was like they were able to score at will at times," Stephen F. Austin guard Thomas Walkup said. "We didn't knock them off their spots and didn't do the things that we usually do."

Guard Thomas Walkup had 22 points for 12th-seeded Stephen F. Austin Stephen F. Austin (32-3), while Desmond Haymon, whose 4-point play with 3.7 seconds left in regulation Friday forced overtime in a 77-75 upset of fifth- seeded Virginia Commonwealth, added 17.

Reserve forward Tanner Clayton, a graduate of Rancho Bernardo High School, was scoreless in nine minutes of play for Stephen F. Austin, missing his only shot, but grabbing two rebounds.

UCLA made 29 of 53 shots, 54.7 percent, including four of 14 3-point shots, 28.6 percent. The Lumberjacks made 20 of 57, including seven of 27 3- point shots, 25.9 percent.

"We didn't make some shots that you have to make in an NCAA tournament game against a very, very good basketball team," Stephen F. Austin coach Brad Underwood said.

The Bruins will face top-seeded Florida Thursday in Memphis, Tenn.

"It's going to be a very, very difficult contest," said UCLA's first- year coach, Steve Alford who is in the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1999, when he coached at Southwest Missouri State, now Missouri State.

"We're going to have to do things well and play well, but we're glad to be back in that picture and have another chance."

The victory put UCLA's first-year coach, Steve Alford, into the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1999, when he coached at Southwest Missouri State, now Missouri State. He later coached at Iowa and New Mexico.

--City News Service